I decided to try decorating our dining room chairs for Christmas meals. I saw a picture on pinterest of a ribbon of burlap tied around the back of a chair, so I modified that, added colored ribbon and a silk flower or garland. Simple, but I think pretty and a fun addition to the chairs :-)

We've been going crazy (in a good way) decorating for Christmas. :-) We started the day after Thanksgiving, with me decorating countless wreaths, sewing Christmas stockings outa burlap that I recently purchased, hanging untold numbers of strings of lights, and it's beginning to look alot like Christmas! Hubby climbed on the roof and put up farolitos, put lights up in the entryway window, dug out the tree, and made sure we had a beautiful fire in the fireplace each evening as we worked. Very pleasant indeed! Several years ago, we saw a really awesome idea of putting a wreath around a light fixture, and had to do it ourselves. My daughter and I decorated a huge wreath last year and hung it on the chandelier over the dining room table, and it's now a "must-have" every Christmas. We have the one over the dining room table, and this year added one to the entryway light. Everywhere we look, there are wreaths! Hubby kinda thinks I went a little crazy, but it was hard to stop! ha! On one of the blogs I follow, there was a great idea for hanging a wreath on the top rung of a ladder (on the blog, she used a cherry picking ladder - I'm using the southwest ladder that hubby built for me a few years ago), and stockings on the lower rungs. I drew up a pattern, made some stockings, hung the wreath, added the stockings and some greenery, and voila! This is my version, and I love it! This will be another "must-have" every Christmas!

In August, our daughter and son-in-law became an Aunt and Uncle - what a cute little guy Diego is!! Such a happy baby, and such a sweet smile! Our daughter says "when Diego smiles at me, I cry!" Easy to see why! He's precious!

This past summer hubby had a gallery ask for some of his sculptures, and he got the spot right at the front of the property! I got to assist with the installation - it looks amazing!!! Such a talented artist!! My photos don't do this justice, but suffice it to say, the face on this is beautiful! Fused glass of hubby's design and creation, the feathers are sand-blasted and hand painted by my artist hubby, gorgeous colors, and I can't get enough of looking at it!

Hubby's mom's pie cupboard needed a little TLC - the punched tin "windows" had oxidized pretty badly and didn't look very nice any more. I had in my mind's eye a picture of maroon colored glass, so hubby and I went to Albuquerque to his favorite glass shop, found the very color I envisioned, hubby cut the glass to fit, installed it, and look how beautiful! I think our Christmas dishes look gorgeous through the glass! :-) Every time I look at this, I smile! Another great job by my handsome hubby - so talented! :-)

Last summer mom got to come visit us - was great fun to have her here! Had some girl time shopping, grabbing a bite for lunch, and then in the evening mom whooped my butt in Yahtzee! She always told me dynamite comes in small packages, and she's not kidding! at 4'10" she's a live wire!! Love you, mom!!! (P.s. see the chicken clock in the background? Yep, hubby made that!! Love it!!! Fused glass and other mixed media!)

Now I can reveal my secret project from a few months ago. My brother-in-law had asked if I would make them a king-sized quilt, which I had never done before. I was a little intimidated, to be honest, but I didn't see how it could be any harder than the smaller ones I've been making. I drew out a diagram of how I would construct it, figured the yardage (no small feat for this math-challenged person!!!), made a trip to my favorite quilt shop in Albuquerque - Southwest Decoratives - and headed back for a sewing marathon. I will confess, got stuck with pins a few times, but it went together fairly quickly and seamlessly (sorry 'bout the pun), and I'm rather proud of myself! Sis and brother-in-law celebrated their anniversary with a re-wedding ceremony December 1st, and we got to watch it streaming live from their church's website. Hubby and I watched from here in Santa Fe and our daughter watched from Santa Barbara - was fun, and yes I cried! :-) Sis sent me a couple pictures of their quilt, and it received a seal of approval from Emma, their cat. :-) Success!!

Haven't taken time in ages to post on my blog. Time gets away from me sometimes... Recently, hubby created and installed a new entryway to the living room, and it looks gorgeous! Used to have a metal threshold track for sliding glass doors which was nice, but this is much more "southwest" flavor. :-) The doorway gives a much wider access between the rest of the house and the living room, and it just "feels" so elegant! Great job, hubby!! Another project was installing track lights in the living room, and once again hubby rocks!!

This photo of my hubby and me is from Monday August 13th - our 41st wedding anniversary! We went out on a beautiful dinner date, had such a nice relaxing meal, the evening was relatively cool with beautiful clouds and sunshine. Had to take a quick snap before the evening ended - but I didn't mean to get an antennae in the picture! oh well! :-)

Today was my aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary! Wish we were in Idaho to celebrate with them! (the quality of this isn't the best because I scanned a copy of the newspaper article) Their kids are sending them on a wonderful trip which will include a trip down the Danube River! Happy 50th Anniversary Unk and Aunt Annie!!

This is a picture of my mom and me - August 15, 2012 would have been my mom and dad's 63rd wedding anniversary. Daddy passed away in 2005 after a valiant battle with Alzheimers. August 15th would also have been my neice's 35th birthday.

Tonight hubby and I enjoyed a dinner date for our 41st wedding anniversary - on the way to the restaurant he spotted these amazing clouds, so I grabbed my phone and started taking photos out the car window. We think the vertical clouds are a rain storm. A beautiful evening - nice n cool, still a bit of sunshine. We even got a snap of us after dinner :-)

I love these window boxes. The contrast of the bright red with the blue trimmed window was more than I could resist, thus all these pictures... :-)

More clouds, and I couldn't resist taking a photo of the red door and red benches which are at the front of our friends' restaurant, San Q - same folks who own our favorite restaurant, Kohnami where we enjoy Saturday sushi. My hubby even decided that I could take his photo in Burro Alley :-)

Sunday was a beautiful sunny day, so hubby and I went to the Plaza and wandered around for several hours. Was so nice to walk around in the fresh air and sunshine, had a nice snack and iced tea, then resumed our walk. The clouds were incredible, and I couldn't resist taking countless photos... By the time we reached the car, it was sprinkling. All in all, a very nice day, and it gave me a chance to take photos with my new camera! Yay!

Today, mama got a new toy - well, actually a very serious piece of photographic equipment, at least for me. I'm not one who can figure out F-Stops and all the fancy stuff that highly technical cameras involve, so this camera is perfect for me. And it's a Nikon - how awesome is that? Already loving it, though today was rainy and we didn't want to wander around town getting wet. So hopefully tomorrow will be sunny cuz I'm hankering to take me some pictures! :-) I am hoping to get some dyn-o-mite photos of flowers that I can have canvas mounted in large format, and counting on being able to get some nice close-ups with my new camera! Wish me luck! Well, actually I just need to keep practicing :-) Either way, fun!!

The top picture is of our daughter taking a photo of one of the many deer that loved to visit the campground. The truck belongs to a neighbor - we would park in front of his truck and walk up Steve's mom's steps to the cabin. The second picture is that same truck after the fire had roared through, wreaking destruction... Needless to say, photos such as that triggered many tears in the family as we all thought of the many hours of labor Mom and Dad Chaparro put into their little cabin in the woods. We are just so thankful for the memories as well as photos that we have...

On our drive back from Santa Barbara a couple weeks ago (we had a wonderful time with our kids and hated to have to leave) we learned of the fire in Ruidoso, specifically near Bonita Lake. These pictures are of the Chaparro family's cabin at the Bonita Park Nazarene Campgrounds near Bonita Lake. In 2009 we were able to spend a few days at the cabin with our daughter, and we thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful setting. There were always little repairs, such as my husband working on the hot water heater, but the over-riding theme was relaxing and enjoying the fresh mountain air. It wouldn't be long during our drive back from Santa Barbara before we realized that the cabin was in real danger from the Little Bear Fire, and as the time passed our worst fears were realized...

...and now (June 28, 2012)

It just breaks my heart to see the devastation in Colorado Springs as the fires devour homes, trees, everything in sight, and no relief in sight. My prayers go up for those who have lost their homes and for those who are in harm's way fighting this monstrous fire...