These are my people....

I love my family!  We have so many wonderful memories together!  We love to cook and we love to eat.  All of us!  We have such a good time when we all get together and we love to joke and laugh together.

Eating.  It's what we do best.  HA!

  It never fails someone always misses out since everyone is spread out over the United States, but we always take a picture of our food and send it to the one missing!  It's a joke we play..... cruel, but funny!

This picture is a little dark, but these are the two cousins that live closest to me.  We don't get to see them often enough, but I sure do love 'em.

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends. ~Anonymous

Cousin to cousin we’ll always be, special friends from the same family tree.

 These are my people!  I love 'em!  And I'm so glad I am able to see them, even if not very often!  I have such fond memories of growing up with all my cousins!

Guess What Time It Is ?

It's about that time around my house.....it's BASEBALL season!  I LOVE baseball, as evidenced by prior postings!

If you hear from me less and less this spring, you'll know where I'm at!

Don't Worry

 Oh y'all...I am a WORRIER.  I have the "worry gene" for sure and I struggle with it something fierce!  I have heard it said that by worrying over an issue/problem, etc. we are saying God is not big enough to handle it on his own.  Personally, I like to give Him a little help.  I'll be working on trying to give it ALL to Him and not worry (or help).

Luke 12:25-27....

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?  "Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

p.s. for any gardeners that read my blog--I have no idea if those flowers are lilies, I just took the picture at my Dad's house on Christmas Day.  They are beautiful flowers and this is what it reminded me of. 

New Design

So, I believe I have figured out my new design!  FINALLY!  I really felt like my blog needed a change and a pick-me-up so I changed the template this morning.  I had to get a few things ironed out but I LOVE the changes.

Now if I can just figure out how to make some of the footer stuff post, I'll be in great shape!

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

I'm working on it

Hey ya'll...I'm trying to work on my blog a little bit today and this weekend so if you see things that are "wonky" you'll know why.  I believe I have thoroughly ruined it thus far! HA!
I put in a new template but the background is still my old one.  If anyone knows how to fix it, please email me at charonbenton@dishmail.net ! THANKS!

2013 calendar

I have an Erin Condren planner for my personal use, but I like to hang a calendar by the back door for the family to see and use as well.

Usually I order one from whichever online company is having the best sale.  Last year it was Shutterfly, and this year it was Vistaprint.  I got my calendar for only $5 !

Want to know what pictures I used?  It’s always hard for me to pick just 12 photos (plus one for the cover) so here you go..in no specific order…

One from our trip to Colorado in August 2012

Max and the boys

At Boondocks in Daytona

Silly Red Sox boys

 

My beautiful nieces and my boys—they LOVE each other so much

 

Calm (at the beach)

 

My boys

 

Beautiful scenery from Colorado

Crazy family

At Disney

 

Family picture 2012

 

More beautiful scenery from Colorado

Love my calendar!
~CB~

Disney…

I’ve said it before on my blog that if you’ve never seen Disney dressed in her holiday attire, you MUST put that on your bucket list!

Each year, we load up and head to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party in December and 2012 was no different.  I realize it’s January but I wanted to recap time spent with my boys.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and headed into the MK for the party!  We rode some rides and had a good time at the parade too!  My boys even let me get their picture in the sleigh for our Christmas card!

Mimi (my mother in law) with her boys…..

One of our favorite parts of the parade – the Toy Soldiers

There is NOTHING like the Castle in her splendor

While we were at Disney, Carter had a birthday!  He was treated with a special birthday cake and dinner at The Crystal Palace!

 

Sunday morning we had breakfast at The Grand Floridian.  It was SO good.  We even stopped long enough to have our family photo taken in front of the 2012 gingerbread house!

Their tree was beautiful too!
 

Ready for Disney 2013!

~CB~

The Pantry

I recently had to clean up/out my pantry!  I have to do this quite often in my house.  We are so busy and this is something that just has to be done!

I’ve blogged about my pantry before here, and of course before school starts each year, I blog about the pantry.

 

It was SOME kind of bad, y’all.  REAL BAD.  I have just been so busy and not able to take care of it regularly so it was a hot mess.  I threw away empty boxes, organized, etc. and this is what it looks like now….

    

Nice and tidy.  The way I like it.  Organized.  Neat.  Simple.

How do you organize your pantry?

~CB~

Calm

I took this picture last year during our annual beach vacation.  It was early in the morning and I was enjoying the peacefulness.

I imagine my boys were were either already in the pool or still sleeping in the room (probably the former).

I like to use the early morning time at the beach to think, ponder, and pray.

2012 was a whirlwind of a year for us.  I don’t tend to open up too much on my blog but I will say 2012 was an extreme struggle for me physically, spiritually, and financially.

My prayer for 2013 is that I will find calm amidst the storm.

Love Letter

Since Valentine’s Day is approaching quickly, I wanted to share a little contest my friend Aleta is hostessing on her blog!

Aleta is asking you to write a love letter.  Sweet, sad, sappy, funny – anything you want.  Send it to her and all the letters will be read and the best one picked to win a gift certificate to a local eatery (in our area) and a dessert.  If you live out of town I don’t know what she’ll do, HA!

Go HERE!  And enter today!

(and have a happy weekend too!)

CB Photography

Do you remember dreaming when you were younger about any job on earth you would do if money wasn’t a factor and you didn’t HAVE to have an income?  For as long as I can remember my dream was to set up and stage/style people’s portraits.  I knew that wouldn’t pay the bills right off, so I went to college and got a few degrees. Yes. Multiple.

I LOVE photography.  I’m definitely still learning every single day more and more about it.  I’ve always loved taking pictures of my boys, of course, but now I’m able to start taking pictures of families, babies, seniors, engagements, etc. as a part-time second “job”.  I say “job” because something you LOVE to do isn’t really a job!

I am overwhelmingly blessed and so, so thankful that my business has literally taken off!  I did one session as a favor to a friend and honestly, I haven’t quit since!  I’ve done a senior session, a baby session, family sessions, Christmas card photos, brother/sister session and had FUN doing all of it!  It’s a LOT of work, don’t get me wrong but the end result are beautiful memories for a family!

I’ve included just a few photos from some of my sessions for you to get a sneak peek!

I’m certainly not perfect and I still make mistakes!  I put everything I have into making people happy and satisfied with the portraits they are commissioning! 

What a blessing it has been to this point!  What a blessing that it’s growing!  In the next two months, I have 6 sessions scheduled!

Here is what I know!  I am happy.  I am content.  I am BLESSED.

Resolutions

Each year I pick a word to live by (strive for) and each year I try and make a few resolutions for myself.  There have been years that I am 100% successful and years that I wonder why I bothered.

This year, I picked the word DETERMINED and here are my resolutions (obviously some of the resolutions carry from year to year).

• pay off 2 debts (or more)
• run a 5K (or at least finish one, doesn’t have to be running)
• lose 50 lbs
• live a more simple life (say “no” more and live with less)
• expand my photography business

I hope I can achieve at least these goals in 2013!

Do you make resolutions?  What are they?

Determined in 2013…..

I try to pick a word for the year on New Year’s Day.  Last year, my word was peace.  I definitely didn’t do my very best on some of the peaceful activities, but we had our first “family meeting” tonight and it went really well.  I made some goals for myself and laid out a few expectations for my boys.  So far so good.  We’ll see how well it’s going by Friday. HA!

This year, I’ve chosen DETERMINED.  I am determined to do and accomplish a lot in 2013.

-pay off debt
-lose weight
-run a 5K
-say “no” more

I have several other goals but I want to share those in another post maybe.  We’ll see.

I am blessed—so much more than I deserve.  Looking forward to a determined 2013.

Happy New Year, y’all.