Thankful

This month, I have noticed that many people are posting one thing a day that they are thankful for.  I'm not one to post daily on facebook, so instead, I decided to post 30 things that I'm thankful for on my blog instead.

1.  God
2.  Anthony
3.  My mom and dad
4.  My brother
5.  The rest of my family
6.  Rylie and Sam
7.  My friends-both old and new
8.  My job
9.  Having a warm place to live
10.  Having a nice new large bed to sleep in
11.  Living in Texas and not Alaska or North Dakota
12.  The ability to cook-Thank you Mom!
13.  Wonderful health insurance
14.  My iPhone-don't know how I'd function otherwise
15.  Long phone calls with friends
16.  Three days off work for Thanksgiving
17.  Warm scarves, gloves, hats and coats for when it drops below 50 here in Texas
18.  The freedoms we have
19.  DVR
20.  Target
21.  My students at school
22.  The military (health insurance, paychecks, GI Bill)
23.  The opportunity to spend time with my whole family
24.  Thanksgiving Day
25.  Black Friday
26.  Pinterest
27.  Facetime
28.  The wonderful people I work for and with
29.  My Crockpot (only $7.00 on Black Friday!)
30.  All else that God has blessed me with

What are you the most thankful for?

Holiday Card Winner

I'm a day late with choosing the winners for the Shutterfly Holiday Card giveaway.  I realized it last night right as my head hit the pillow, but I was too tired to come back downstairs. 

The winners are.....

Erin from Every Branch

Aften from The Gardner's

Caren from Our Married Life

If you guys will email me I will get the coupon code to you.  Thanks for sharing your memories! 

Meet Rylie

Being a one dog family just wasn't for us...or Sam.  We needed another dog.  But what?  We spent several weeks discussing and researching.  Anthony wanted an English Bulldog or a French Bulldog or a Great Dane.  I wanted something cute and fluffy.  We agreed on one thing...not another Shih Tzu.  We loved Frankie but just didn't want to deal with the snoring and attitude go down that road again. 

Two weeks into the debate, Anthony finally caved.  He asked me to pick out four dogs I would like to have.  I Googled "Cute fluffy dog breeds."  I searched every breed on puppyfind.com.  And finally, I was able to choose three.  From their, he chose Rylie's breed.  The following weekend, we drove to my parents and then picked up Rylie.  We fell in love instantly!

Rylie is a Cavachon.  She is a mix of Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Bichon Frise.  Here hair is soft and fluffy.  She will not shed.  And, she doesn't make sounds like a seagull.  She has quite a funny personality.  She is not afraid of much, even a dog that is 22 times her size.  She fearlessly flies off the couch.  But she is gentle too.  She likes to snuggle, especially with Sam.  And she gives great puppy kisses.

Sam wasn't so sure of her at first though, and still doesn't really like her.  But, he does tollerate her.  Frankie was never very friendly to Sam, so we hope Rylie and Sam will be better friends and I think they will.  Atleast there has been no blood, so far.

*Don't forget to enter for the free Shutterfly holiday cards.  You have until Sunday!

Holiday Cards

Wow, Christmas is just around the corner.  We're talking just over fifty days away.  Less than two months.  That means it's about time to start Christmas shopping and picking out Christmas cards. 

Two years ago, I decided I wanted send out a cute family photo card. Since then, I have found myself continuing to go back to Shutterfly to create our Christmas cards because I love them so much!  And this year will be no different.  I'm already working on this year's card with our new puppy!  The quality is great and they arrive quick.  And they sure beat a store bought generic card.  This is one of my favorites

      

Not only can you make your holiday cards through Shutterfly, but you can also create Christmas gifts and photo books.

I discovered Shutterfly several years ago when I needed to make a photobook.  Three years later, I still use Shutterfly for my photobooks and have quite a collection.  I also use Shutterfly to make my annual calendar for home and school and the quality is great.  You can even put people's photos on their birthdays!

Anyways, this year, Shuttefly has been so kind as to offer free holiday cards for me and for 3 lucky readers.  So...I'm hosting my first blog giveaway EVER to share the greatness. 

I'm going to make entering simple.  Send me a message and share your favorite holiday memory.  To enter a second time, publish a blog post about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link.

I will be choosing the winner on Sunday, November 13th.  The winner will recieve 25 free holiday photo cards from Shutterfly.com.