Getting Ready for Christmas

We were getting our house ready for Christmas tonight, and I had to post just these few pics.

Ella helped me string the lights, before dad put her to bed.

Then we finished off with a nice yummy cup of hot chocolate, in our special snowman mugs. That my mother so lovingly checked an extra bag to bring to us last year. Mind you that extra bag cost her $20 each way. But she had to bring them, becasue she got such a good deal on them. I LOVE my momma!! I will admit, they're pretty cute mugs.

The last few months...

Well lots has happened in the last couple of months...

We moved in September to Gloucester, Virginia.
This is the historic courthouse, the 2nd oldest courthouse still in use in the country.
This is our post office, we drive by it every day on our way to and from home. We have a PO Box here, and the Post Office Lady is named Lucy, she's the sweetest thing in the world. The manager of the General Store is named Donna, and she had made it her personal quest to introduce us to everyone here. They're the nicest two people in the whole world, you feel like your gold when you're around them.
This is a local restaurant named Olivia's we ate there for the first time when the Winn's came, and it was pretty good. The seafood chowder was a huge hit. And NO they won't give me free food because of my name, so don't ask. :)
Here's a picture of our house that we now call home. It's a little private drive, so it's pretty secluded. There are only 3 other homes on the road.

This is a picture of our backyard. This picture doesn't do it tons of justice, but we LOVE it, it's huge, there's bamboo back there, and tons of trees. It feels like living at a cabin. No matter what window you look out of, all you see are trees.

Eric officially started his job.
This is the courthouse where he now spends his days.
We got a few callings in church.
Eric was called as an Assistant Ward Mission Leader but was told to expect more, and Olivia was called as a Counselor in the Young Womens, as well as a Ward Missionary.
We've been keeing busy, but we are really enjoying the ward and our callings.

Ella started saying several different words.

Including: Bye-bye, she goes out of her way to find opportunities to say it. She also waves bye to EVERYONE she sees in a truck, I'm not sure what the association is. Uh-Oh, which is my personal favorite, it's just adorable. Puppy, which was one of the first, and she definitely recognizes one when she sees it. She also counts to 3. It's pretty cute.



Jan came for her first Gloucester visit.
We visted Beaver Dam Park. We LOVE it there, it's a beautiful park with hiking and biking trails, as well as a playground, picnic tables, and a dam that you can canoe or paddle boat in. It's really beautiful.

Of course we did some CW.

We went to visit the Mathews lighthouse again. And we had to show Nana her new local beach, even though it was quite windy, so we couldn't stay long. The tide was really high, so you couldn't even see the pretty rocks this time.
We hit up Shenandoah.
No we don't know that man, he just had a dog, therefore Ella stopped him. She makes a lot of friends when we're out and about.

Ella dressed up in the most adorable costume for Halloween.

If you can't tell what it is, it's a pink and white cat. When she walked her tail would waddle back and forth, it was killer adorable.

Nana bought us some FUN presents, as usual.She bought me a really pretty canvas from Heritage Makers for Christmas, which Ella helped me work on.

She got Eric a firepit and applicable accesories, for our back porch for his birthday. And we've had several chances to enjoy it. We LOVE it!
Thanks nana.

Eric was sworn in to the Virginia BAR.

We met us with the Moon's who were also celebrating acceptance into the Virginia BAR.

Ella had her first hair cut.

And we've made lots of great new friends.

PS I hate blogger, it took me several hours to do this post, because it's so UN-userfriendly. Grrr. Don't be surprised if I change to use a different blogging program in the near future, maybe it'll be my New Years resolution.

Olivia's New Venture...

Okay so a lot of you know that at the end of August, I started my own little website for my Video Montages. Which was a lot of work up front, but once I got it out there, I found that I had NO IDEA how to market it, without forking out dough, which we don't have. So I was a little disappointed, but whatever, right.

Then, in October, I went to Time Out for Women, which is truly a conversation of it's own. ;) But while I was there I went walking around to the different booths and found a company called HERITAGE MAKERS. Okay, you all it's EXACTLY what I've been looking for!

When it came to scrapbooking, I never got into it, simply because it was expensive, and just required way too much mess, time, etc.. to get started. I've heard the term "digital scrapbooking" surface in the last few years, and I've been curious, but never willing to take the time to look into it. But ever since we got married, I've just had my JPegs compiling onto my external hard-drive. And I tell Eric all of the time of my intentions for them, but never get around to printing them, or putting them in any sort of album.

So... after talking with Jennifer Knight, the consultant that I met, and learning about the business aspect of Heritage Makers, it seemed like a perfect fit. It opened a door for me to market my videos, but also gave me a means for doing something with my JPegs. It wasn't without A LOT of consideration, becasue I've always been adverse to Direct Sales. But because I really did like the product line, and I was feeling like taking something new on, I decided to try it. So I signed up.

I won't lie, it's had it's ups and downs. But I just keep reminding myself that starting your own little buisness is always going to be the toughest in the beginning as you're building your client base. In the last month + I've experimented with Bazaar's, In Home Workshops, Online Workshops, Westgate Workshops, and a few other things. I've had some successes and some failures, but I'm writing this to say, I really am feeling pretty good about it. I'm already starting to see my clientele grow, and repeat business. I'm finding that once people try out the online studio, they come back on their own.

I'm really excited about it, because I can honestly say that the more I learn about the company the more I like it. The online studio is like the best of both worlds, Photoshop can be nice with the control that you have, but it also can be very frusturating because it's so complicated to do even simple things sometimes; while other online programs can be very easy, you just don't have any control, and you can't always make things look right. But with this, it's simple and you have total control, I LOVE IT!

As always, there have been a few kinks to work out, but overall I'm feeling really good about my decision, plus I've already had some awesme projects that I've ordered, as well as a few that I'm working on. So it's exciting. Here's a few links to see them:

This one is a 16x20 Canvas Gallery Wrap, that is just beautiful! Our post office lady kept saying how handsome Eric was, when she looked at it. :)

And this one is a book of a few highlights of our visitors while we were living in Williamsburg.

So, my point is, I'm super excited about it, and I'll keep you all up-to-date with future projects and fun. Hopefully things will continue to go well.
I'd love to share it with any of you who have any interest. It really is worth trying.

My website is: www.MyPictureCreations.com

The webpage has a link to my video website Treasuring Memories as well as one to Heritage Makers.

I'm going to do a give-a-way for anyone who is interested in becoming a consultant. If you sign up before November 30th, I'll throw in a free calendar for you (you personalize it). I really want to have a team with friends, and I feel like there is tons of potential with this company. Email me or call me, there are so many great things about it, I couldn't possibly tell you it all on this post. :)

Oh AND my other good news, I pulled out a dusty box, marked Olivia's Pants, and I'm fitting into all of my college pants now, it's AWESOME! It just feels good, anyone who's had a baby knows what I mean. I just used the CalorieCount.com, to help me get here, but I'll totally vouch for it.