Happy Friday evening......    My days have really been mixed up.   

Today has seemed like Saturday and yesterday seemed like Saturday as well....    

Hoping everyone enjoyed a Blessed Christmas!   My family certainly did.   The celebration of the Birth of our Lord and Savior is the Best Blessing of all.   

Our family enjoyed some awesome food, along with some great family time!

A cute game that I made up for the grands to play for Christmas Eve.   They had a great time......even Tucker, who had to wear the big red bra!!!   He was a good sport about it!!!   

I collected all kinds of Christmas wear and each piece of garment was wrapped.... They each chose about 7 packages and as they were blind folded, they had to unwrap the gifts and put the piece of garment on.   And....it had to be put on properly.    

The first one to get their packages opened and all items on, won the prize.   Carson....the one with the pink pajama bottoms on, was this years winner.    He won a gift certificate to Starbucks!

Sam and Tori wore  a"Oh Snap" shirt and sweater.    Neither one of them knew that the other was going to wear "Oh Snap".....they loved it!

Sam and I had a pictured made at Church.    

Hope to see pictures from each of you and your Christmas celebrations....

Hugs, 

Shug....

MORE  CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.....

I HAVE HAD THIS OLD WINDOW FOR A VERY LONG TIME....  I'm constantly changing this thing and making something new out of it....   

This was difficult task.....I moved this old buffet ALL BY MYSELF.
I had to empty the thing and believe me it was full of dishes and stem glasses.    It wasn't an easy task, but I got it done.  Anyways....it looks great in the New place.   

This old chicken feeder is always full of some kind of candy, and the kids LOVE it.   

This old Santa lantern looks great, sitting in front of my snake plant.   How many of you have a snake plant?  Some people call it a mother-in-law tongue....

Close up of my tree.......

I am very pleased with my Christmas decorations this year.   I didn't really even open the larger containers of Christmas Decor this year.   It's all kinda simple, but this is ok with me....

My new purchase for the Christmas season......A Christmas Gnome.


                        Now...time to finish wrapping gifts.....

Shug....

Christmas around the House..... One of my favorite things to do during the Christmas season, is to wrap gifts.   All of my packages have bows and decorations on them.   I just L♡ve  pretty wrappings.  

This particular gift belongs to my youngest daughter....Shanda Kay!

Perhaps she will read my blog and go looking for this present.

I've always loved this little Christmas rhyme and I was so excited when I found this sign.   Plus....I loved the RED!

"I"  think the Holly Jolly Christmas sign fits perfect on my shelf.  

I'm in LOVE!!

Just one of my sweet little snowmen.   Isn't he adorable?

My snowman tree....  It is a rare thing for us to get snow here in East Texas, but that doesn't stop me from loving Snowmen!

This is Twiggs...    Can you say ADORABLE!

I think a snowman tree should be left up, maybe through January.   

⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄⛄

I did something a little different this year above the fireplace.  

Very Simple.....but I truly like it.

Buffalo Print is everywhere this year.....I know that Hobby Lobby has a whole lot of the black and red stuff.   AND...so do I.

I do love it......😍

No doubt......that I really like the colors of RED and BLACK!

My kitchen cabinets are black.....and I have Red accents all around the house.....any time of the year.   

Tomorrow.....I'll post more pictures of my Christmas decor....

Shug ~

I'm still here!    Once again.....my life has been super busy.  Since 

the first part of September, I have been in full speed.   I haven't had

time to post lately and it looks like this month is just as busy as the 

past three.  

With the Thanksgiving Holiday being so late this year, it feels as

if we lost a week of getting Christmas shopping done.   I did go 

shopping with the girls on Black Friday, but I still have a few 

things to do.  I finished decorating the house today (or should I 

say....I finished doing all that I'm going to do this year!)

I'm pleased with it.....but it is a whole lot less than what I normally

do.   

I know I have a lot of catching up to do in reading all of your post.

Hope to get that done SOON!   


Sending hugs,

Shut

When "They" borrow your phone!!!!    

I don't know about the rest of you, but my kiddos are always picking up my phone and as a result, I find all kinds of FUNNY photos!

Each one of them has their very own phone, but I guess mine is a little more interesting.  Who knows!  However, I'm pretty certain that their phones are "locked"..... so there is no chance that I could possibly get into their hello devices!

Why do I not have a passcode on mine?  Because it is too much trouble.   I just want to share a few of the pictures that I recently found on my phone.   One of them is pretty scary!!   Filters are a fun thing to play with and my crew seems to really enjoy taking selfies......on MY phone!

I wasn't prepared for this one......looks like Mylee Jo found a "Pug" filter...

I'm guessing that one of my other cuties had my phone and was snapping pictures of everyone...

I sure would miss a lot of laughs if I did lock my phone......Think I'll keep letting these kiddos have fun....

Enjoy a fun Friday....

Shug...

Today was a great day for me to sort through, and delete many of my old pictures.  I came across the above picture on my phone and it brought a huge smile to my face.

This picture was taken in September of last year.  Sam and I, along with some of High School friends, made a trip to Branson.  

We visited "Dogwood Canyon" and it certainly did not disappoint.
One of the places that we visited there was an old church.  This is where the picture was taken.   Nothing better than taking a group picture while sitting on an old church bench.  

You just can't beat traveling with Great Friends.

Shug..

This group of girls love playing Volleyball together.   The four girls on the first row, are all Seniors, and the second one from the left, is Tori, our granddaughter.  #4.     

This picture was taken yesterday afternoon, as the girls were headed out to play their first game in the PLAYOFFS!   Unfortunately, they lost last night to the lady Farmers of Farmerville, Texas.  

This was Tori's LAST game and I was a little sad, knowing that her Volleyball playing is now over.    I will say, she is a GREAT player and I have enjoyed watching her play these past 6 years!!

Tori.....holding her cute "Fat Head" that we have toted around all season long......

Not only did she play awesome last evening, but it was a great night for her in another way!   Her Brother, sister-in-law, and nephew were there to watch her play.

Tyler, Emalee and Keelan were able to make it to the game just before it started.   They drove from South Carolina, and the smile on Tori's face when she saw them was nothing but complete greatness.   She knew they were coming home for the week, but had no clue that they would make it to the game.   

I am beyond thrilled to have them home on leave for the next 8 days.   When they leave, they will go back to the base in SC for about a month and half, and then they will be off to California.  

Tyler will be stationed in California for at least the next 5 years.  

Sam and I plan to make a trip out there in late June.....after all, great grand baby 2 will be here the end of May and I can't wait.   

I'm thinking that I will be preoccupied for the next 8 days.....see y'all after that.

Shug

Happy November 1st......   

The temperature outside is just perfect for me.   I do love the cooler weather......flip flops and all.   

Weather that causes people to bundle up from head to toe, means wearing pants, a short sleeve shirt and flip flops for me.   

                                                  ~~~~~~

I captured the photo in my header, while Sam and I were in Tennessee.   We were at a red light and as I looked up, this beautiful view was in my sight.   I would prefer for the electrical lines to have been somewhere else, but I think the perfect shot was having the sun shining right through the middle of the tree...

                                                   ~~~~~~

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Trick R' Treat night.   My family had a great time, right here at our house.   We built a fire outdoors, had a Plinko game for the Trick R' Treaters to play, handed out candy, ate hotdogs and Homemade Deer Chili, AND had a great evening.   We even had orange lights hanging from the trees!

It was so cold outside and by the time the sun went down, I did have to grab a jacket for myself.   It was so much fun!!

My girls captured pictures, but I never seemed to find the time to take any shots on my phone.   Hopefully they will share with me.  

I'm looking forward to the weekend...    Hope you all enjoy a good one and that the weather is perfect for you to get out and do some fun things..

Shug

                                                         Happy Birthday

                                     To this guy right here ↓

I have not clue what was going on yesterday, but I could not get my blog to post.   

My sweetie turned 67 yesterday, and he celebrated a very fun filled day!   

The kids all met us for dinner last night and not only did he enjoy the dinner, but he absolutely loved all of his gifts!!  

They fixed him up good.   

He is most definitely the Love of my life and I pray he is Blessed with many more Birthday celebrations.   

Shug....

Hey Friends......

Today was a wonderful day for taking in deep breaths and enjoying how great life is.  

This has been a beautiful Sunday!  This morning, Sam suggested that we pack a picnic and head out somewhere quite, to enjoy this wonderful day.  

We packed a few things in a cooler, stopped and  got our daily "Sonic" un-sweet tea, then headed over to a state park to spend the morning.   

Sometimes, we all just need to take time out for a day such as this.  

It was so nice to find a picnic table at the edge of the lake.   We had a great view and were surrounded by so many sounds of nature.

We listened to the sounds of many different kinds of birds and could hear the gentleness of leaves falling to the ground.  In the distance, we could hear the sound of moving water, as kayakers would paddle by.   Over in a different direction, we could hear the soft sound of the floating dock, as people would walk out on it to enjoy casting a few lines in hopes of catching a fish or two. 

   We read scripture, and listened to some good ol' gospel music. 

Guess you could say, we had our own little church service this morning.  

After we ate lunch, we walked down to see the beautiful water......up close!   Then, we followed a hiking trail over to the floating pier where people were fishing.   After following the trail back up the hill, and climbing a few steps along the way, we ended up back at the picnic table.   

We packed up and headed back home........ I am so grateful for this opportunity to be able to enjoy time with the love of my life!!

Later this afternoon, we stopped by Tom and Shanda's house to watch the kids carve pumpkins!!  

Mylee Jo's pumpkin.....check out those crazy teeth.    lol.

Emily's pumpkin!!   Emily is our grandson's (Carson)  beautiful girlfriend....   She is precious!    By the way, we have 2 Emily's and 1 Emalee in the family!  Oldest grandson, Tyler, is married to Emalee.   Grandson Carson has his Emily and another grandson, Tucker has a Emily for his girlfriend.   The other grandson has a girlfriend, but her name is Hannah.   They are all PRECIOUS!!

                                            Carson and Emily....

Mylee's pumpkin, Emily's pumpkin and Carson's pumpkin.

They look great!!

A wonderful day filled with many Blessings!

Shug

............. As I sit here this morning, drinking my coffee, I've been thinking about my day.   I have plans to go watch our grandson play baseball today.   I will probably run into a few people I know, as well as many people that I have never seen before.   

What will my words be like today?  Will they encourage others, or will there be a chance that what I speak, can somehow hurt someone?   It is my desire to always speak Blessings into the lives of those I come in contact with.   

We should all wake up each and every day, asking God to let our words be pleasing unto HIM.   Asking God to help us to breath life into the lives of those around us.  After all.....this is exactly what I want others to do for me.  

The words that we speak are very powerful.  I hope that the words that I speak will bring a smile to a friends face, and even a smile to a stranger that I might meet.   

Today is going to be a great day......may each hour of your day bring about love and kind words!!

Shug.....

It has been an interesting past two weeks!!!   Sam and I took a couple of weeks and did a little business as well as some side trips for a mini vacation.   

We left on September 28th and headed EAST.   We made a couple of business stops on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, before heading over to see our kiddos in South Carolina.   We made a stop at the Air Force Base to pick them up,  and then it was off to Myrtle Beach.  

This is one of my favorite pictures.   I love how I "accidentally"
captured Tyler and Emalee's reflection on the beach!  

We had never been to the East Coast before.......usually, if we go to the beach, we go to Florida.  It was very interesting to see the difference in  beach sands as well as the water.   

Tyler and K spending some quality time at the pool.

The above picture was taken at a Seafood buffet!  Oh my goodness, it was so good!   Tyler and Emalee knew I was snapping a picture of them! They tricked me with their expressions!  ha!  lol...

 Yes, my friends....this is a picture of Sam's ice cream bowl.  A whole lot of ice cream!!!

A little Putt Putt time with family....  the picture is a bit blurry, but just to let you know, we had a great time!

                             

 NEW announcement:   They (Tyler, Emalee, Keelan ) are MOVING to California!!   He has to be at his new base by January 31st!   I am super excited for them and believe me....I've already checked prices on flights to Cali.   

After leaving the grands behind.....Sam and I traveled into North Carolina and eventually into Tennessee.   The best part of the second half of our trip, was that we had NO PLANS.   Nothing was planned out and so we stopped when we wanted to and visited places that we had no idea we were going to visit.

This was in Gaitlinburg, Tennessee.   I always love visiting this area in the Fall.   

A picture as we were driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains...

A gorgeous Falls in North Carolina...  I think it was Fall Creek Falls.

 Our un-planned HIKE.....   This was a first for us, as we are not really hikers.   The funny thing about this hike was.....I had on my famous flip flops that I love to wear all throughout the year....and Sam had on some comfy shoes that are not made for hiking.   I even had my purse on my shoulder and beads around my neck!  LOL.   But....we decided to hike this mile long trail.   It was so much fun, even if the other hikers looked at us as if they knew we did not look like your typical hikers...

It was well worth the hike.....even including the 75 plus step that we climbed.   

This fire was perfect because the temps had changed and it was really cool outside...

Sam at  Chimney Rock Mountain.   You can't really tell from this picture, but this was WAY UP THERE!!   To high for me!!   I did do the drive up the mountain and then I went with Sam up the 26 story elevator, but I just could not climb these stairs for fear of heights.

There was so much beauty all around us.   

We ended the second week with a few more business stops, but even those stops were Blessings as well.....  

I love these kind of trips...

Shugs...

PS......I forgot to tell you all about all my goodies that I purchased on this trip.  LOTS of Christmas ornaments and even a tree.   My sweetie never complained about all of those little bells and ornaments RATTLING ALL THE WAY HOME!!