Those Infamous New Years Resolutions...

Everyone has New Year Resolutions, whether written down or mentally noted. Some are positive. Some are attainable...some not. Some are more comedic.

In case you haven't gotten any ideas for your own, I found some random ones that may get you thinking...or give you a chuckle :)

2011 what to leave and what to bring Leave: drama, enemies, hate, pain, violence, and tears. Bring: friends, family, smiles, laughter, love, hope, and peace.

My New Year's Resolution was going to be to quit all my bad habits, but then it occurred to me- no one likes a quitter.

This year, I plan to gain weight, sing off-key and have a little fun. Finally, resolutions I can keep!

New year resolution: laugh a little louder, smile a little bigger, love a little deeper, and walk through life a little slower

I was going to make a New Year's resolution but decided, since I am already perfect, that it would be pointless!

And the most resolution-ed subject.

This year I'm using big words to sound smart...Sorry, I meant utilizing gargantuan idioms to simulate

intelligence.

BRING ON 2012. Can't be worse then the year I've had. Thanks to everyone who's dragged kicked or just got me thru this year cause without you I know I wouldn't be here.

2012 A NEW BEGINNING: Positive Attitude & Faith makes for a Fantastic New Year! Live <3 Laugh <3 Love <3

Blessings to you as you enter the new year!

Happy New Year!

Hope you had a happy and healthy, merry Christmas!

This year, for our first Christmas letter, I basically took excerpts from my blog and journal to tell about our year. So if you've read my blog, you pretty much read our letter :)

If you haven't, then you are most welcome to!

Here's a few snapshot highlights from our year!

The wedding!

The honeymoon ;-)

<3 And the honeymoon continues <3

We were blessed to be able to spend our first Christmas with both of our families, my folks came to Colorado for Christmas. Now we are in California visiting some of Dad's family.

We hope this holiday season finds each of you blessed with happiness and health, enjoying the company of family and friends.

I am so stoked!

First of all, let's get the definition of "stoked" out of the way. (Just in-case you were wondering.)
Stoked: Adj. When someone is really happy or excited about something. -Urban Dictionary

Who doesn't love a good bargain?!
I found this side-table a couple of months ago: $3

It needs to be refinished, but was exactly the size and shape I was looking for, and is very sturdy. That's always a plus :)

Furniture pillows: $1 ea.

Or, how do you like this cookbook I've been trying to find ever since I knew I was gonna be getting married. It's by far the most popular one in my mom's kitchen, especially for basic necessities such as, pancakes, waffles, muffins and cornbread :)
This morning, I found it at the local Good-will: $2

It's in near perfect condition and is very close to the edition Mom has, meaning old ;) But that is what I wanted, because the new ones aren't quite as good. IMO

My christmas decorations are up! (Humble that they are.)
Speaking of bargains and christmas, I found this little manger scene:$0.50

Since this is our first christmas together, we have very little to decorate with. Also being on a newly-wed budget, bargain christmas deco is a necessity. I'm waiting until the "after the christmas sale" to stock up for next year :)


Caleb and I are getting into photography, something that both of us have always aspired to, and dreamed of. Right now, we are in the research stage. Trying out different techniques with our nice but smaller camera, before we get a really nice one...like...a...Canon! Yes, we are biased :)

This last Sunday, the twins I babysit turned five. I have to tell you, they are the cutest 5 yr olds in the world. (Sorry. No pix, out of respect for the parents, because they don't know all my friends...I know, y'all are awesome...but you'll just have to take my word for it!) 
Monday, they were getting ready for school. Their mom was there to help, a nice treat since she is very busy. It seemed like she had the preparations for school under control, so I decided to go do some laundry. Next thing I know, she calls to me and says that one of the girls requested I do her hair. She really likes a side ponytail, and likes the way I do it, apparently. It was one of those moments that you go, "Awww...poor mom." Then, while your thinking that, your heart melts, "Yay! They like me." Lol! Dumb...I know. But usually it's, "When is Mommy gonna come home? I want her to do my hair." "You don't do it tight enough." "You didn't braid it long like Mommy does." So, needless to say, it totally made my day. It felt like maybe I had made a little progress in earning their trust :)
Here's a picture of what it kinda looked like, thanks to Google! Only she likes her's tight ;)

And, last but not least...
My family is coming to Colorado for Christmas!!
Ahhh! What are we gonna do for christmas dinner in our cute, but tiny, house?! What about sleeping arrangments? Any ideas? 
(Besides having them get a hotel room :)

Hope y'all are having a great week!

Btw, how do you like my new blog look? I know it's not very christmas-y, but feel free to leave comments :)

National Men Make Dinner Day

First of all, who ever heard of such a thing? National Men Make Dinner Day.
Well...apparently Caleb did yesterday on Klove.
So I get home from work last night and he is in the kitchen making dinner. Awesome!

He made Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo and accompanied it with artisan bread and sparkling apple cider. Check it out!

I would just like to clarify that this not the first time he has made dinner. Its not like he does it all the time or anything, but he has on occasion :)

If you would like to check out this awesome "national" day, you can do so here :)

Following are the rules I found on the above linked website.

Official Rules
Rule #1: National men make dinner day is always celebrated on the first Thursday of each November.
Rule #2: Man agrees to participate in national men make dinner day. Bonus points if he does so without seeking promise of night out with boys in return.
Rule #3: Man, completely un-aided, chooses a 'published' recipe from any source, or Internet. Getting the recipe from 'her' cookbooks is allowed, but man gets bonus points if the recipe isn't already somewhere in the house.
Rule #4: Main meal must include minimum of 4 ingredients and require at least one cooking utensil other than a fork
Rule #5: Man goes shopping for 'all' necessary ingredients. Bonus points if he takes inventory of cupboards and fridge first, before shopping trip. So you don't end up with two 64 ounce jars of pickled pimentos.
Rule #6: Man organizes all necessary ingredients in order of importance on kitchen counter. At this point, he may need to make a phone call or shout out the word 'honey'! Followed by a question. This is not allowed.
Rule #7: Man may, if desired, turn on radio or his favourite CD. Man agrees not to be within 30 feet of TV remote during cooking process. At this point, spouse and any other family members should not be anywhere near kitchen. (unless smoke detector goes off!)
Rule #8: Following recipe carefully, man starts to cook dinner! Apron is optional, (bonus points if recipe includes one of the following : capers, saffron, or the word 'scallopini').
Rule #9: Man must use the 'clean as he goes along' rule! Following each completed use of utensils, cookware, half-used jars of anything, spice bottles, etc., everything is rinsed, cleaned and put away
Rule #10: Man sets table, candles are lit, beverages are poured, no ketchup bottles, sour cream containers, or big boxes of salt on table.
Rule #11: Spouse and/or family members are served! This is an opportune time for a photo. Man is 'allowed' to gloat no more than three times during the meal. Family is encouraged to congratulate man on job well done. Family dog is not allowed to be secretly fed man's cooking.
Rule #12: After meal, table is cleared by man, dishwasher is loaded. Man returns to table for stimulating after-dinner conversation. At this point, man is told how much his meal was appreciated. He, in turn, describes the joys and challenges of the experience. He is given a hug, and his TV remote is returned to him.

Canning!



Last night...

Caleb and Justin were gonna be working late.
Natanyah had some tomatoes she needed to put up.
+    I hate being home by myself at night (oops! cat out of the bag).
= I went and helped her can.

36+ quarts of blended tomatoes is a lot folks!

The BIG pot of sauce. That, dear people, is 78 pints of spaghetti sauce :)



 (btw, these were all taken with my phone and in some lighting's it just doesn't work very well. So I apologize.)

Some of the pints waiting for lids so they could go in the canners.

The canners. (First time in a looong while for me to be around a pressure canner=scary!)

The girls were real troopers :)

Enjoying some Cheerios

That is bright! Grace is the one covering her ears, not sure if she got tired of hearing the blender or what :)

Playing sweetly

I'm gonna get you!

You can see the steam on the windows.

Awww... All worn out!

I left shortly before midnight.

We had a successful evening if I do say so myself :)

Anyway, that's all for now.

Just thought you might like to see a little update and some new pix of the girls-even if they are blurry ;)

Mind blocks

I recently read a blog post of a dear friend. She is having a marathon this month and posting everyday. But in one of her more recent ones, she said that she has a hard time vocally expressing her thoughts and that its easier for her to write them down. I thought, "Hm. I have the opposite problem."
Anyone who knows me very well, knows that I almost never run out of things to say. Which isn't necessarily a good thing, it has gotten me into a lot of trouble :/
Also, my brain goes a hundred miles a minute and sometimes its so fast, by the time I take a breath, I've already forgotten the most important things I thought about. Very frustrating to say the least.
Say I'm talking to someone and they ask me a question and then proceed to explain their question. Lots of times, by the time they finish, I've forgotten what I was originally gonna say and have to come up with new wording. Tragic, I know, right?
Same thing with blogging. Throughout tthe day I'll think of things that would be really cool to blog about and it would be awesome if there was someone right there to discuss it with. But there's not so I just try to remember, lol, good luck with that!
Have you noticed? I have a terrible memory :/
Anyway, one of these day I'll blog regularly. Lol!
P.S. I'm blogging from my phone :)

My evening and deep thoughts

Tonight, after an awesome evening of fellowship, good food and games at our pastor's house, Caleb and I went to a job he wanted to finish this week and sprayed primer. I got to help! A first for me. I've never sprayed paint or anything. It was a totally cool experience! Right now its all over me. Lol!

Now on to deeper things.
Lately I've been doing some thinking. I am in a very unique stage in life. I am not a young single woman, nor am I an experienced wife and mother. Sometimes it feels like I'm suspended between those two. Most of my friends are single. The ones that aren't, like me, are too busy adjusting to this new life to connect much. Then there are my married friends, that are already moms. I've always tried to relate to everyone, but lately it seems like its gotten harder.
Right now, I am changing and evolving. Its something that happens to every newly married person. You change. It happens. You adopt some of their habits and they adopt some of yours. You come from two different cultures created by your parents. They know what to expect from their culture and you know what to expect from yours. Then the two come together in your home and the two of you have to search and figure out what from each culture will work in your home. This is the stage of life I'm in. Its a good stage. I love it. It means change and accepting that.
Sometimes I have a hard time being comfortable around my old friends. I still love them all dearly and miss them more than words can express, but wonder if when I'm around them they think I'm strange. I am not the single girl they knew. I am now a married woman, but am still an adventuresome girl on the inside. Can they understand this?
I want to connect with people and have friends. I am very much a social person, I thrive around others. I am content with where I am at in life, where God has me. But sometimes I wonder, "Have all the changes been for the better? Is God still the most important thing to me? Do I really serve my husband the way God wants me to? Would my parents be proud of the home we are creating for their grandchildren? Have I loosened my standards or is my relationship with God stronger?" So many things, and so much more. These things are important to me. I love the person God is making me to be with Caleb. But am I truly allowing Him to shape me or do I unconsciously rebel and do things my way? I want to serve Him and my husband with all my heart. But sometimes I feel like I don't know how to without myself getting in the way.
I know this is a very long, rambling, confusing post and probably boring, especially if you have never been in this stage of life. I must be way over tired because I cried a lot writing this post. Maybe that what you get when you stay up with your husband at work because you hate to go home by yourself. It is now almost 5 am so I will say adieu and I hope y'all have a great rest of your weekend :)

Its a missing Texas friends kinda day...

That's right I miss my family and friends in Texas. But thanks to the pilgrims, and Joe and Carla, I can see them in 2 months. Yay for weddings and Thanksgiving!
So, instead of feeling sorry for myself, I called and talked to my mom and picsin'd some pix for your enjoyment. If you do not see yourself, and you live in Tx, I apoligize. I do not have a picture of you, however, I did think of you...promise :)

Update on my Nieces :)

This morning Caleb's sister, Natanyah, called and asked if I wanted to go over and spend part of the day with them. So I did. We went to a garage sale that some of the local mennonites put on. Then we went back to their house and visited and played with the twins. They are so cute! They can now crawl, sit up by themselves and eat baby food. Grace says dada and mama. Hannah is trying but hasn't succeeded yet. They both have two teeth :F Lol! Today Hannah was the excited, expressive one and Grace was the studious one-very serious about everything. Anyway, just a little update on my nieces. Short and sweet!

Here they are today, laughing at their mom :D

Sorry its sideways, its a cellphone pic :/

Randomness...

Trying out this Blogger app on my phone. We'll see how it goes...

Things I learned this last week.
(Some of this I knew before, it just got re-enforced.)

1) The day you turn 22 feels no different than the last day of being 21.
2) Never let your children over rule you, they will think they can do it all the time.
(When letting them pick, just give them a couple options. ei. Which of these two outfits do you want to wear? "But I want to wear that one!" No, that is not in the options I gave you.)
3) Don't give an energetic kid an inch, they will stretch it to a mile before you can blink or realize whats happening.
4) Good bargains are worth looking, and waiting patiantly, for. (I found some awesome ones!)
5) Just because it doesn't have a store tag on it doesn't mean its not in brand new condition.
6) Friends are made for a lifetime. No matter how long they are gone, you willl think of, and miss, them.
7) Calories are little creatures that go in our closet at night and sew our clothes smaller. (Borrowed from a smart friend.)
8) My husband likes victorian style homes.

Something you may not know, and might not wish to know, about me :)

My default ring tone: Country Strong by Gwyneth Paltrow
When my husband calls: Love Like Crazy by Lee Brice
My mom: Mama's Song by Carrie Underwood
My dad: This is Your Life by Switchfoot (Well, that's what I wanted to put, but can't find it in ringtone format and haven't taken the time to do it myself.)
My younger siblings: I Hope You Dance by LeeAnn Womack
My alarm tone: Born Again by Newsboys

Things I did today:

1) Loaded and unloaded three dishwasher loads of dishes.
2) Processed...wait a sec...I can't remember...I lost track after six loads of laundry.
3) Made ramen noodle mac-n-cheese *gag* for a couple of pre-schoolers' lunches.
4) Talked to my SIL Rebekah.
5) Played Scrabble with myself.
Etc...

Back-packing & Tx trips + B-day stuff

We went back-packing with Caleb's family. We tried to bring our camera, but it didn't quite work out :/

So while we were up at the campsite, I used one of his sisters cameras. Long story short, all the pictures got erased off her memory card...

We did manage to get some with Caleb's cell. Not really very good, but anyway...

Caleb and his brother built a little underground storage area while we were up there. They have always stored things up there in the trees, but they wanted something better.

Since the pictures were taken with Caleb's phone, they are all of me, and not very flattering. Lol!

I helped dig a little.

Me, on the way back out. You can definitely tell I'm tired.

Last weekend Caleb and I drove down to Texas with a load of peaches. We left early Friday morning and after stopping in Oklahoma for about 6 hours to drop 70 boxes with one of Caleb's former students. We arrived at my folks place 36 hours later.

We celebrated Ez and my birthdays.

Mom and Grandma Lana (her mom) made this awesome cake for us. It's layers of chocolate with mint chocolate ice cream. Delicious!!

Some random pix from our brief visit...

 



 Sunday, while we were at church, my parents' freezer door blew off in the strong winds from the cold front that blew through. Mom is browning some of the ground meat. (A lot of it was thawed by the time they found it.)

Here is some of the peaches we brought down, with some of the thawed fruit from the freezer.

When we got back from visiting relatives, this is how we found Dad :)

 Friday night I had my own little birthday party here at Starbucks :)

Yummm...

Sunday, Caleb's mom made lasagna and had the grandparents over for my birthday. My nieces are crawling and sitting up!!!!!!! Aren't they cute?! (Poor things, they were so tired.)

Speaking of the twins...on the way to the place to park when we back-packed, we all met at a park. Even Justin and Natanyah, because they weren't going with us.

I managed to get this adorable picture of Hannah laughing. (That's Anna holding her.)

I know, it's poor quality. Thank my phone. Lol!

Until next time...

Peace!



What am I doing wrong?

After my recent post on facebook, I thought this was rather fitting :)

(And no, it's not me! Thank you Google Images.)

Just went and looked at the stats on my blog and am groaning. What is wrong? Am I a boring writer? Do I post at bad times when no one is on? Am I too long winded? I did have a guy friend inform me that my blogs scared him because of all the words. Lol! I will admit that a couple of them are long and wordy, but not all of them. Oh well, one of these days I'll figure it out. In the mean time I'll quit complaining at all of you and start brainstorming... Do any of you other bloggers out there ever feel like this?

For any of you out there that think that I am long winded-this post is for you :)
Peace!