Hey, Happy New Years Eve! Everyone seems to be doing their own version of a "Wrap Up" of 2011, so thought I'd do that, too! It's really been a momentis year for us - lots of work, plenty of stress, & great joy!
First BIG decision of 2011 (actually decided just before Christmas 2010) was to sell our home and move closer to our children, and second decision -- another BIGGY was that The Man would retire as soon as the house sold!
We had already done some major changes/upgrades to this house, but bathrooms were not among the major redos, so we had to punch them up a bit! We started & finished this project in Dec. '10. You can go HERE if you want to see more.
Then it was time to do this......
Excitement & scariness all wrapped together!
Then we had the joy of meeting Avery Quinn!
I almost got our precious little Avery for a birthday gift (just 3 days earlier), but then The Man gave me this & thus started the "picture taking maniac" that I've become!
We found the perfect new home for us!
I wish the seller's car hadn't been sitting in the driveway, but you get a pretty good visual.
We signed the papers on our new home!
Then I started doing a lot of this HERE and......
these started stacking up!
Otherwise, I occupied myself with small crafting projects that didn't make big messes!
I won a great give-away HERE!
Happy 42nd Anniversary!
Happiness is this sign in our front yard!
We did a U-Haul run to our new home!
I'm so excited to share a tour of our new home HERE.
It's early August. This is Yuma, AZ & the temp is 110*+, & we are moving!
You can see how it all played out HERE.
Next day was "moving in day," equally hot, but these guys never slowed down!
See it HERE if you must!
Took a breather from unpacking & did a bit of exploring. Well, look what I found! To see more of my discoveries go HERE.
Just before we moved, I received an email from Rondell @ Something Nice & Pretty that I had won this cute give-away. She was so sweet to hold off shipping for a few days until I got moved into our new home. The give-away was this adorable wooden box w/a handle & this vintage Ball/Mason jar.
I was pretty sure I would use it in the guest bathroom, but didn't know exactly
how I would use it.
Well, this is what I did. What do you think?
This was my first victory on getting one room set up and presentable.
It's a very "Special" day!
He is RETIRING today!!!! For the last 3 weeks, since we "officially" moved, he has been staying in Yuma to work, only coming "home" on the weekends. He has had August 31st planned as his "retirement" for awhile now. He was given a nice "retirement luncheon" yesterday with several of his work friends driving over from Corona, CA (that's where he used to work & is the main branch for the Yuma division) to bid him farewell & to wish him a very "Happy Retirement!" So after a couple of hours in the office this morning, he will be "packing up" & walking out the door for the last time!
We had our first "Family Celebration" on Labor Day HERE
We made some light fixture changes HERE
I revealed my kitchen for the first time HERE.
Fall began happening around HERE.
I found my perfect breakfast room table on Craigslist for $125.....I know, right? And....it also came with 2 more chairs, a 24" leaf & custom pads -- woohoo!
We had a very small "Blogger Dinner" in early November for some Phoenix area bloggers. Life happens and there ended up only being 3 of us, but we had a great time. Annette at One Perfect Room and Kristy at Hyphen-Interiors are both just adorable. I was definitely the "oldster" of the group, but age didn't really seem to matter. We are all just "Bloggers" with things to share.
I won another give-away! Thank you Elmer's Glue and Destiny @A Place for Us.
I finally finished my "studio" craft room that I've been planning & dreaming of for months. You can see Part 1 HERE & Part 2 HERE, if you are a gluten for photo-overload!
Another semi-major change -- shutters are now on all windows!
And then another change -- new granite HERE!
We celebrated a very happy Thanksgiving Day. To see more, go HERE
Plenty of extra special hands to help me with Christmas decorating -- cookies & gingerbread houses,
getting the tree all set
with just the right ornaments!
Betty Crocker was in the house!
And, once again, I won! This time it was a delightful snowflake pillow cover from Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin.
I know, people, I am so lucky!
And we had a beautiful Christmas Eve with the entire family& these are the only photos I got!
Taking pics of 6 crazy wild kidlets who are hyped up on sugar & so excited
about opening presents, is just a heck of lot harder than I thought it would be.
Well, it was an amazing, exhausting, exciting, stressful, & fun-packed year for us. We are looking forward to 2012 & all that it will hold for us and for all of you. I wish you all a very, very
HAPPY NEW YEAR! See ya next year, ya'll!
xoxo, CAS
You had a great and exciting 2011...2012 will be just as exciting...maybe not so exhausting as a move!!
ReplyDeleteHi Cas, what a wonderfully exciting year you have had. Thank you so much for sharing all those beautiful photos. Happy New Year. I have recently found your blog and am now following you, and will visit often. Please stop by my blog and perhaps you would like to follow me also. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Chris
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So nice to see what an exciting year you had! I can only imagine how happy you must be to be living near your grands now. A blessed, happy and healthy New Year to you and all of your sweet family! Suzy
ReplyDeleteWhat a great recap of your year. You certainly had a very memorable one! I will have to check out your new blog as well.
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