Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Montana


Hello Everyone!
I wanted to share a few pictures with all of you of my parent's house and a few pictures of Montana.
My parents live in Camas Prairie, MT...
They raised all ten of us kids here...
This isn't the house I grew up in though.
My Dad had built the house I grew up in.
That house unfortunately burned down in 2002.
I remember the day it happened....
It was a very sad day for all of us.



My cousin, Jeff, built this house for my parents.
He is such a talented architect.
I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Jeff and Kelly (Wintersteen Farms)
on our way to Montana.
It was raining when I was at their house, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get too many pictures of their beautiful home.
I am hoping I can make another trip back up there this year.



It snowed a lot while we were home.

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My dad raises English Mastiffs...
This is Bazzle.


He is a big teddy Bear.





They had a litter of dantiffs while we were home..
Dantiffs are a cross between an English Mastiff and a Great Dane.


This is a picture of my dad and my two daughters.


A picture of my mom and dad with my family, and my nephew Jarod, who is directly in front
of my Dad.


A picture of my two sons (in the brown coats) getting ready to go outside and play with their cousins at my parents' house.




My parents house is at the base of the trees.


A couple of shots of Camas Prairie....

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I went to a one room schoolhouse on the Prairie until I was in fourth grade.

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I took this picture on our way to Kalispell to visit my brother.
This is a picture of Flathead Lake.
I wish it had been a clearer day, because I would have been able to get a better shot of the mountains.

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You can kind of see the two Bald Eagles in the trees...

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I really love the Kalispell area....
The mountains are beautiful!
My brother lives near this barn.  


I have to apologize for not being able to get back to some of you.
I am a little behind on my emails, and I am trying to get back to each and everyone of you
as quickly as I can.
I hope you all enjoyed your holidays!
Take Care,
Maria

Monday, January 3, 2011

City Cottage Giveaway Winners


Hello Everyone!
I hope you are enjoying your week.
We just got back from our trip to Montana at about 7:30 this morning.
It was a long drive....
I have so many pictures to share with all of you....
This is a picture of Flathead Lake....
I will be back Wednesday with some more pictures of Montana....
and a few pictures of my parents' place.
On another note....
I wanted to let you know who the winners were of the City Cottage Giveaway....

Jenny selected the winners!
Anne Marie, from Na-da Farm Life won the City Cottage Pillow
Leanne from The Fancy Life won the hair pin.
Tara from Between You and Me, won the vintage inspired hairpins.
Polly from Sassafras Stuff won the pretty rosette earrings...
Congratulations to all the winners!
Thank you to everyone who participated in the giveaway
Thank you Jenny for sponsoring such a generous giveaway!
If you want to read more details about the giveaway winners please click here~
I wanted to also thank the businesses who sponsored my blog for the month of December....


Thank you to everyone who sponsored my blog in December!



















Thank you for stopping by!
Take Care,
Maria

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year~ and a Thank You


Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all having a great New Years Eve!
 I wanted to thank Layla and Kevin, from the Lettered Cottage
for featuring my bedroom on their Few of My Favorite Re-Do's post.
Thank you Layla and Kevin,
I am honored to have my room featured on your beautiful blog!
I hope you get a chance to check out the post, there are some great room re-do's featured, I know
you will be inspired!
They are having a Link Party as well!
They want to see your room re-do's.
Click here to find out all the details!

The Lettered Cottage

On another note....


I hope you all have a great New Year's Eve!
We are in Montana visiting family this week!
My husband and I are both from Montana.
The kids are having a blast visiting all of their cousins!
I took the picture of this barn in the Kalispell area, it is near my brother's house.
We got a lot of snow this week..
We forgot what it was like to have REAL weather!
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!
I feel blessed to have discovered this wonderful world of blogging one year ago!
Thank you for EVERYTHING you guys have done for me this past year!
See you all in 2011!
Take Care,
Maria

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A Simple Christmas Table Setting



Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all having a great week!
I am sorry I wasn't able to post on Sunday night.
I first wanted to thank Shannon, a writer for HGTV.COM for featuring my bedroom on their site.
You can read the article by clicking here....
Be sure and check out Donna's headboards she created while you are over there too, Donna is so creative and talented!
On another note.....
I wanted to share a few pictures of our Christmas table setting.
I actually had planned to do something else, but it didn't work.
I first tried to put magnolia branches down the center of the table.
Well it looked awful....


Since that didn't work, I basically just used what I had around the house....
I lined up five french canning jars down the middle of the table.
I added pomegranates to the top of two of the jars... 
I haven't ever been a fan of baby's breath until I started reading Dusty Lu's Blog....
This is a very sparse bouquet... but it was all I had.


I only had a little bit of baby's breath and two different types of hydrangea blooms.






I tied twine around the napkins and added a sprig of boxwood and a paper white bloom.
I did this a couple of years ago for our Christmas Dinner.


I got out my favorite antique red and white dishes from France.



I used my  red striped grain sack runner, that my mom made.


I recently found two french canning jars with the porcelain tops.
I love them.


As you can see I didn't do a lot to the table....

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We have been fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with our families this week.
I hope you are all enjoying your week!

Take Care,
Maria