Pages Lane

Have you checked out my craft blog?

You can catch a glimpse of my recent project:

My blog is not perfect, but through it, I hope to learn and grow as a wife, mother, and homemaker. You can help me on my journey.

Plus, if you become a follower of Pages Lane, I will love you FOREVER. :)

Who Says

First of all, I'm sorry I'm not doing too well at posting lately. Logan and I have colds and would rather snuggle and read books instead.

I'm getting sick (no pun intended) of people saying how January is the worst month of the year. Come on guys, its not THAT bad. In fact, there are quite a few good things about it. I am partial to January for a few reasons, not just because its my birthday month. Here are my Top 10 Reasons Why I Love January:

1 - Winter Activities

You can't tell me you don't enjoy playing in the snow. If you don't, you shouldn't be living in Utah! You can go sledding, build a snowman, snowmobile, ski, snowboard, ice skate, etc. When was the last time you had a snowball fight? If you want to feel like a kid again, go outside and make a snow angel.

This is me in Oakley, UT about 2 years ago.

2 - Beauty

Along with all the activities listed above, you get to be in nature. Utah is SO pretty in the winter.

3 - Warm, comfy clothes

I would like to thank my mother-in-law Marcy for introducing to the fabulous world of fuzzy socks. How did I not know about these before? Its like wearing a soft blanket on your feet. I recommend them to everyone. Also recommended are leopard print fleece pants.

4 - The New Year

What better time to make new goals as well as celebrate everything that happened throughout the year before.

5 - New episodes of my favorite shows!

6 - Hello sunsets

The inversion in good for something - it makes the sky absolutely gorgeous. Photo taken on I-15.

7 - Hot chocolate

Especially the peppermint cocoa with homemade marshmellows. Thanks Jen!

8 - Diving into a good book
This is where a combo of my favorite things come together: a good book, hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, and a sleeping baby.

9 - Birthdays!

I don't mind being in the spotlight once in a while.

10 - Birthday Goodies

I don't mind getting spoiled either. :)

So I know you can experience some of these things throughout the winter, so maybe this post should be 10 top reasons to love winter. The next time you start hating on winter (January especially), remember how many good things come out of it too. Especially my birthday, haha.

Have a great winter day!

The Winner!

Those of you who have Facebook may have heard this already, but I had to make sure everyone knew because I'm so proud!

Benj began a weight-loss challenge at work right before Thanksgiving. Since most people gain weight over the holidays, his company wanted to reward those who lost weight during that time period.

Out of 500ish employees, my hubby lost the most weight - 21.2 lbs in 6 weeks! He worked hard on his diet and was so good even with all the goodies around. He picked his prize - a new flat screen TV. He brought it home last night and has already set it up. :)

Benj says he's about halfway there so cheer him on the next couple months.

We celebrated by going to Texas Roadhouse. While we were dieting (yes, I was too - sort of. I lost 3 lbs. Whoohoo!), we dreamed of all the delicious, million-calorie meals we could splurge on when we were done. We drive past Texas Roadhouse all the time, always mumbling, "mmmmmmm, Texas Roadhouse". Ohh, it was worth the wait. Every bite was absolute heaven.

Logan enjoyed it too, even though we had to wait an hour and a half to eat. Poor kid ate a lot of peanuts and I had to make sure he didn't eat any shells off the floor in the waiting room.

Chicken critters, fries, potato skins, rolls and diet cokes, because you know, we're on a diet.

We are back to being good, so I hope looking at the picture above doesn't make me cheat.

Reminder . . .

Reminder that the blog is going private VERY soon! If you haven't gotten your email to me, be sure to do it in the next day or two. If you don't want to leave your email on here, you can email me at amandacbradshaw(at)hotmail(dot)com.

See you on the other side. ;)

A New Year, A New Start

I always start my new year with a few resolutions. I love feeling a new determination to accomplished my goals.

However,

instead of trying to accomplish everything all at once, I'm going to spread it out a little. I was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers. She chose one word to be her motto for the year, and I thought it was such a good idea that I would do the same.

My 2011 word is:

I will focus on doing one thing a month to improve myself, my family, and my home. I hope by spreading out my goals, I will be able to FOCUS on this specific goal and improve life one step at a time. I also hope to focus on the important things in life.

My (or should I say our) word to focus on for January is BUDGET. Not a fun one to focus on, but needs to be done. Benj and I have made some big goals for our family this year, and we know we can accomplish them by being smart about our $. Not going into too many details, we hope to begin and achieve some of Dave Ramsey's 7 steps to Financial Freedom. We are very excited and determined! So, if you want to hang out with us, think of cheap, fun things to do!

I will continue to update on a monthly basis. Stay tuned and here's to a FABULOUS YEAR!

CHRISTMAS

Our family had a wonderful Christmas. Christmas is always wonderful, but there was something about this year that made it extra special. Maybe it was because Logan was more into it, or the blessing of being with lots of family. I especially enjoyed Benj being home for almost 2 weeks vacation. It was mostly very relaxing, just how I like it.

We started out with a beautiful turkey dinner on December 23rd. Benj's grandparents always set a very elegant atmosphere.

Logan got to spend time with his cousins.

We had a little pre-Christmas morning because we were going up to Idaho Falls for Christmas Day. Here's a photo of our tree and Logan's Santa gift (kid table and chairs). I always love moments with my little family.

Benj rocking his new hat.

Some of our loot. Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled.

I hadn't been home for Christmas since I was single. Mom and Dad usually come down to Utah a couple days after Christmas. It was so much fun to be home, and remember all of the traditions that I had growing up. I'm glad Logan got to experience it too.

Logan and Grandma Croft on Christmas morning.

I especially loved sitting in this spot and singing Christmas songs with my family. Something that I will always remember.

Other activities were: watching movies, playing games, shopping, and eating way too much. But it was oh-so-good.

Dad carving the roast beast (er, prime rib roast).

Andy makes a mean bowl of popcorn.

This was Benj's favorite spot throughout the holiday.

Logan got spoiled with attention from his aunt and uncles.

Our little family after church

And a very cute 20 month old in his very cute Christmas sweater.

Hope your Christmas was wonderful too!