My Favorite Photos - October

 Hello swappers and friends!  Here are my photos for the ESG Swap for October.  I hope you like the selection as much as I enjoy sharing.  It's always fun to review the month and choose which photos to include.  

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For this month...We start off with my husband and son in Nags Head, North Carolina.  A little male bonding is a good thing, right?!  

Next - I snagged this one off my friend's Instagram.  Her son, Austin Meadows, plays for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team, and they made it to the World Series this year.  Unfortunately, the Rays lost to the Dodgers, but what a dream-come-true to play in the World Series.  I love this photo of the baseball autographed by her son.

Next - my beautiful daughter and her boyfriend.  Aren't they adorable?  I know I'm biased, but I can't help it.  It was a nice day, and we took my dog to Rockwood Park...great getting some fresh air!

I have to include a picture of the pups.  On the left is my son's dog, Pica ... and my puppy, Tilly is on the right.  They are awesome, and thankfully, they play well together.  My son is moving out of state next week, and I know the dogs are going to miss each other!

First apple pie of the season...  YUM!

And last, but certainly not least.... I took advantage of Early Voting and dropped my ballot off at the registrar's office last week.  I'm so ready for this election to be over, and have been praying for peace in the aftermath, no matter the outcome.

I hope you have a great month ahead, and appreciate you posting a rating, so I know you've received my swap.  Even if I'm not one of your send-to partners, I would love seeing your photos too, if you care to share.  

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Swapping!

Hugs, 

Happy Mom

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My Favorite Photos - August - From Happy Mom

 Gosh, it's been months since I posted my swaps on my blog.  I think Covid-19 made me scale back on everything.  But I decided to share these photos for this month's favorite photo swap here, and we'll see if I keep at it :)  

I hope all is well with you and yours - - and that you've had a great summer.  This is my favorite season and August is my favorite month, so I had lots of photos to share - but I narrowed it down to these four, and I hope you like them.

First - Just one of many gorgeous sunsets at the Swift Creek Reservoir near my house.  

Next is a photo of my new puppy, Tilly - and my son's dog, Pica ... hanging out on my bed.  My son was on an extended road trip out west, so Pica has been here for the past 3 weeks.  He got back last night, so Pica will head out with him later today.  She's been great company for Tilly ❤️

Next up is a photo my son sent me from his trip.  That's him - climbing in Utah.  That tiny spec in the background is his van that he customized for his trips.  It's like a tiny house on wheels, and has seen more of America than I have!  You can check out more of his adventures and his work as a graphic designer at his website.

And, my last photo is my beautiful daughter. She's been quite active on #Bookstagram and took this photo for one of her posts.  You can follow her at @calturnspages on Instagram 😀.

And that's it for this month.  Thanks for posting a rating so I know you received this OK, and hope to swap again soon!

Happy September,

Ilyse - Happy Mom

ESG: My Favorite Photo - April - from Happy Mom

Hi all - hope you like the photos I'm sharing from April.  No travel, due to the pandemic, but still some cool shots from home.

This is a house we pass on our daily walks - So many people left encouraging messages in their driveways 😀 It really does cheer me up to come across them, and I'm not even sad.

Next, I'm sharing a screenshot of our Sunday church huddle.  Before the pandemic, everyone serving that day would gather before church for prayer and announcements.  Now that we're meeting virtually, our huddle is virtual too.  We have a very enthusiastic team!

I always love seeing the trees and flowers bloom in the spring... Here are some photos I took while walking my dog through the neighborhood:

And this last one is an interesting tree trunk - The bumps in the bark looked like there was a critter inside 😂😂😂

I hope you enjoyed seeing these - and even more - I hope you and those you love are happy, healthy and staying safe.  Have a great month and God Bless!

ESG: Meet My Pets - from Happy Mom

I've been going through old photos and decided to share a bunch - I've always been a dog person and these are dogs we've been blessed to love over the years.  I wish I had more from years gone by, but grateful for the many we have now!

First up - Meet LANCE-A-LITTLE (instead of Lancelot).  He was my first dog that my parents adopted when I was still living at home.  Poor dog was slightly neurotic in our household, and even with obedience training, he was a handful!  This photo must be from the late 60's or early 70's.  

Lance

Next is KRYPTO - This was actually my then-boyfriend's dog, and I think I loved the dog more than the guy.  Well, maybe not, but when we broke up, I really missed Krypto as much or more than him.  I've always had a soft spot for labs. This photo was from 1979.

Krypto

Fast-forward to the late 80's and meet HOMER.  She was my husband's and my first "baby" that we received when our neighbor's dog had puppies.  We are big baseball fans, so the name "HOMER" was her name.

Homer - after a haircut!

Homer lived a good life, and even moved to our new home with us.  She was the dog we had when both of our kids were born, and losing her was tough on all of us.  It was a while before we adopted another dog, but when we did, we chose TATER from the SPCA.  Tater was wild!  I always thought it looked like he'd dipped his nose in black paint.

Tater - Mr. Mischief

Tater

Sadly, Tater was not a good fit for our family.  He was way too high-energy for us, and we made the difficult decision to re-home him.  Taking him back to the SPCA was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.  The staff was so kind - they let me know when they found a new home for him and assured me that he was well cared-for.  I still feel guilty over that, and it was ages ago!

One day, I came across a flyer on the bulletin board at the gym, advertising new puppies.  The seller had them all in a red wagon, and I fell in love!  I didn't even ask my family.  I contacted the seller and went and chose Elly Mae.

New PuppElly Mae

Clean Elly!

Our next 'baby' is Leia.  We adopted her from the SPCA in 2008.  Her given name was Martha Stewart when we got her, and my son chose her name because he was in a Star Wars phase.  Leia quickly became "my" dog and she's been my constant companion ever since.  She's turning 13 this summer, and we are besties.  Here are a few from recent walks and hanging out in my office:

And, last but certainly not least... Meet PICA.  She is actually my son's dog, but a big part of our family too.  She was adopted from a shelter when my son was out of state rock-climbing.  I couldn't believe it when he came home from the trip with a dog, but she's been here ever since.  She is awesome and such a cuddler!  

Pica wants a treat

 So... there you have it!  Hope you enjoyed meeting our furry friends from over the years.  They sure have brought a lot of joy to our lives.

My Favorite Photos from March - swap from Happy Mom

 💚 Hello Swappers and friends 💚

Life has been interesting, to say the least - and I know we're all experiencing a wide range of emotions because of the global pandemic.  For me, I've been focusing on things that are most important to me - my faith, family and friends.  I'm happy to share some of my favorite photos from this past month, and I hope you enjoy seeing them too.

My first photo above is just one of the gorgeous sunsets I caught from our front steps.  I used the panoramic lens on my phone, so you can see my cute little cul-de-sac.

This next picture is of my little house, and the pretty Bradford Pear tree in my neighbor's yard.  I love when the trees flower in the Spring!

Next, below, is a photo of my Young Living Aria diffuser and the oils I was diffusing that day. I love using oils in the diffuser and in natural products I've been making for family and friends.  I've been using Nature's Ultra CBD products too - the muscle balm is a life-saver!

This next photo is of my church holding online services on Sundays now.  The worship team is awesome, and it's pretty cool watching the service on YouTube on our Living Room TV - Everyone has a front seat for church!

And my last photo is a repost from Instagram - I took 2 screen shots of myself using the Virtual Backgrounds on Zoom - I've worked from home for over 10 years and love how that's becoming the norm now.  Using the background of the Northern Lights is especially cool for me, as that's been on my Bucket List for many years.  

So - those are my offerings for March!  I hope you're staying healthy, happy and ready for a new month.  Thanks for swapping, and for posting a rating so I know you received this.

Take good care - and have a Happy Easter, Happy Passover and enjoy Life!

My Favorite Photos from February - Swap from Happy Mom

Hello friends and swappers!  Two months of 2020 are already history - am I the only one who finds this kind of hard to believe?

I started my new job on February 3rd, so most of the month was spent learning new software, my new territory and getting acclimated.  I really like it, and I'm grateful for this opportunity.

Here are a couple of favorite pix from the month:

The company I work for is called VISIX Digital Signage, so it was quite fitting that this was on the message board in the lobby of the corporate office when I arrived for my first day:

In addition to meeting some great people, I caught this glorious sunset my first night there:

Back at home, this sunset graced our skies just last week.  I didn't take this one, but it was so pretty that I had to snag it off our neighborhood Facebook page:

The doggies missed me while I was gone - 

Pica curled up with Gumby :)  

Those are my favorites for the month.  Hope you enjoyed seeing them.  Have a great month and hope to swap again soon!

Cheers,

Ilyse 

aka - Happy Mom

My Favorite Photo - January

Hi swappers and friends :)  There's no way I can narrow this month's photos down to just one!  I got to mark something off my Bucket List, and it did not disappoint...  

I visited COLORADO for the first time, and stayed with my friend Kimberly.  Her house is up in the mountains and it's absolutely amazing.  She was the perfect hostess and tour guide, and we had such a good time together.  Here are a few photos from our visit, and you can see more in the album on my FACEBOOK.

Downtown Denver

Red Rocks

Red Rocks

It's LEGAL in Colorado 

We really had an awesome time!

Here are a few more from the month:

Awesome sunrise - love the pink clouds!

 I cleaned up and organized my home office, getting ready for my new job that starts on Monday.  

Cleaned up, rearranged

My daughter brought me roses and a balloon the day I accepted the new job :)

So --- that's my month in pictures, and I hope you enjoyed seeing them.  Thanks for posting a rating so I know you received this... and I'd love to see your swap too, even if we're not partnered on Swap-bot.  Have a great month!

Cheers,

Ilyse - Happy Mom 

ESG: My Favorite Photo - December

Hello all - this month, I'm happy to share these photos with you and hope you enjoy seeing them.

First up, is a picture of Salman.  He's the child my husband and I are sponsoring through World Vision, and you can see him holding our photo.  World Vision now has the children select their sponsors, and we're so glad that Salman picked us!  Salman is 5 years old and lives in Bangladesh.  

What would a month be, without pictures of the doggies?

This is Pica, longingly looking at my daughter's pizza.  She cracks me up.  You can see all the boxes of ornaments that we brought out, as we prepared to decorate for Christmas.

Here's what the tree looks like, plus a short video clip from Christmas Day.

One thing about December is the beautiful sunsets.  This one shows the fading colors from our front steps to the west.

One of our traditions is having "Monkey Bread" on Christmas Day.  Not only does it taste so good, but the whole house smells like sugar and cinnamon!

Callie gave me a Christmas cactus, and its flowers were so beautiful!

From our house to yours.....  Here's to an amazing year ahead!

Hope you have a happy and healthy New Year, and here's to a great 2020 !!!