A Month......Seriously????

Wow....it has been forever since I posted (a month). Where in the world have I been? There isn't much exciting things to report. We have been crazy busy! I will give a rundown of what we have been up to (update overload). Hopefully I can get back to a more normal routine of blogging.

I spent much of the month of November looking (and feeling) like this:

My surgery went great the end of October but the recovery really sucked. Don't forget to note the bottle of Norco on my bed post. It took me FOREVER to feel normal again. I am so glad that December has been much nicer. Our ward was absolutely wonderful. I was in awe of all the service that they rendered on my behalf. People dropped by food all the time, came and cleaned the house, watched the girls when I needed to rest, etc. My parents were also wonderful in making sure that they could be here and help me out when Joseph couldn't since I couldn't lift anything for 6 weeks. A little rough when you have a toddler.

The beginning of December, I did another VCUG (this time was a horrific nightmare!). The good news is that my urinary reflux was resolved with surgery. I am so thankful for that! I don't think that I could go through this whole surgery and recovery process again if it hadn't worked.

Other than that, I have been busy with work and the girls. I closed on a couple of real estate transactions and have been busy running the office while Joseph did tons of sprinkler blowouts.

Speaking of Joseph, he has been busier than all of us. Our idea to just send out a few emails and blow out 10 or 20 sprinklers turned into a full time job for Joseph for the last 6 weeks. He blew out his last sprinkler yesterday afternoon. We are so thankful for how long this lasted. We have been truly blessed. It has also turned into a full fledged lawn care business.

In the spring, we will begin doing lawn fertilization and sprinkler maintenance and repair. We were able to form somewhat of a business partership with a guy in town and he is giving us 500 fertilization accounts. We are so thankful for this amazing opportunity.

Joseph is going back to school in January to continue to pursue his bachelor's degree. I will miss him since he will be gone a lot more than he is right now but we have been extremely blessed with his opportunity to attend college with the VA paying for everything and don't want to waste it.

Paige is in preschool this year and absolutely loves it. I love the preschool that she goes to and her teacher is wonderful. Paige also had her first Primary program this year. The Sunbeams were just singing one song. I had to go up there with her (she was bawling) and wouldn't sing with the other kids. She did wave to her grandparents (both Joseph's and my parents came) but came back down with me after their song. She was just too scared to be up there. Hopefully next year she will be a little less afraid.

Lexi is growing up so fast. She has started talking more and more. Her favorite words are mommy, daddy, baby, cookie, mine, and grandpa/grandma. She also started going to nursery the first of November. She is having a hard time adjusting to nursery. Hopefully within a few more weeks she will be used to it.

There isn't anything really exciting happening. We are staying home for Christmas this year. We are having a New Year's Eve slumber party at our house with all of Joseph's family. We think that it will be a lot of fun and are really looking forward to it. We will be a little cramped with so many people sleeping in our house but we think it will be worth the fun.

We hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We are so thankful for our Savior and the true spirit of CHRISTmas! Here is a couple pictures of the girls.....

Yet Another Blog

So, I have added more to my already full plate. I have a Great Deals blog where I am blogging about matching coupons with sales and about all the deals that I get. I believe information is best shared. The address is:

http://greatdealhunting.blogspot.com

Or click here to go directly to my new blog--thanks Mandie for doing my blog design. You are the greatest!

And The Winner Is............

I did this drawing the whole fashioned way. I put names in a hat (the 3 people that entered each got 4 entries), shook it around, and had Paige draw a winner!

So the winner is..................KRISTIN C.

I will leave a comment on your blog. Email me within 24 hours to claim at danesenterprises (at) gmail (dot) com.

Congratulations, Kristin!

For the two of you who didn't win, and everyone else who didn't get a chance to participate but wanted to --I will be doing a monthly giveaway so be sure to enter next time. It will be for a different product each month.

Giveaway Officially Over

The giveaway officially ended today at noon. Thanks to all who participated. I have been running behind all day today so the winner will be announced tomorrow. I apologize for the delay, I have just been so busy!!!

Giveaway

I am doing a giveaway for my crib bedding and nursery decor website, Creative Crib Couture. I will be giving away the Hot Cocoa Frame Set by Trend Lab (pictured above). There are opportunities for a total of four entries per person in the giveaway! This is how the giveaway works:

1. For an entry in the giveaway, post about the giveaway on your blog. Please include a link to the website. Also, please be sure to give the link to this blog post so others can take advantage of entering into the giveaway. After you have posted, leave me a comment with your blog address.

2. For a second entry in the giveaway, check out the products on my website and post what your favorite product on my website is. You can post about your favorite product in the same post that you do for your initial entry. If you do it in a seperate post, be sure to leave me another comment so I can check it out.

3. I will also give two bonus entries for anyone who puts a link to my website on the side bar of their blog. Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know that you have done this. I want to make sure that everyone gets their entries.

The giveaway ends at noon on November 17th. I will then draw a winner randomly that evening. I will notify the winner via a comment on their blog (make sure you leave your blog address in your comment!). The winner will have 24 hours to then email me at danesenterprises (at) gmail (dot) com to claim the frame set. If the winner doesn't email me within 24 hours, I will pick a new random winner.

$20 Sprinkler Blowouts

Joseph is blowing out sprinklers this week (Wednesday/Thursday/Friday) for anyone interested in the area. He is charging $20 per yard. Please pass this information to anyone who might be interested. If you are interested, we can be contacted at danesenterprises (at) gmail (dot) com.

Pictures To Come......

I have a little time on my hands since they didn't take out the catheter when I went to the doctor today so I have spent most of the day back in bed. I have several stacks of work next to me so I hope to be productive with the next few days. I am really re-vamping my work efforts with our e-commerce websites. I have several new lines of crib bedding to add and several new products to the current designers that I already have. For anyone who is interested, the web address is www.creativecribcouture.com. Please pass the site along to all of your friends. I am currently in the process of putting together a giveaway since that seems to be an effective way of getting the word out to people. Please help me in passing the word.....more details of the giveaway to come!!!

I am also working on launching my newest e-commerce website which will feature wedding accessories. I am setting some deadlines for myself of when to have that up and running. When it is up, I will do a giveaway for that as well. If you know anyone that is currently engaged and looking for all kinds of accessories for their wedding, please have them contact me as I have information that I can send them before the website is up and running live!

Anyway, back to what we have been doing. Joseph's mom brought Halloween outfits for the girls over last night. Joseph took lots of pictures and I will get them posted when I am back to my regular computer. They are absolutely adorable and the girls love them. Thanks Grandma Danes!

Today the girls went out and played in the beautiful weather. They played with the next door neighbor girl. Joseph and the neighbor raked leaves from both yards up into one pile and the girls had a blast jumping in them. Once again Joseph took pictures that I will upload later.

Sorry there isn't much to report. I have the time so I am blogging. But now I need to get back to work. Hope everyone has a great week!