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 :)

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 ;)

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!



Many Changes...

So a lot has happened lately. Which isn't much different than what's happening with the rest of y'all with school starting and everything :)

We have some friends that have a stand at the local Farmers' Market. So we try to go down there Thursday nights for dinner. Last time we went, the city had set out some official vehicles for show. They even had a cop there that would put hand cuffs on you if you wanted!

This is Caleb with the SWAT van-a totally impressive machine!

Then we had the Palisade Peach Festival this last weekend.

Caleb's family had a booth in the fiber expo and I made a set of 6 little girls jumpers sizes 3-8. I was quite happy with how they turned out and thought they were pretty cute. *pats self on back* Apparently I wasn't the only one, because I sold all but one of them!

Another exciting thing that happened is that Caleb and I got to be witnesses to the first food that our nieces, Grace and Hannah, ate. It was fresh peach puree. Yum, yum! Grace went first...she ate the first bite then was like, "WHAT!" It was pretty cute :)

 Then Hannah got to try it. She totally loved it, and ate it all up!

Annnd... Last but not least, we have moved.

That's right, you read correctly.

I have this new job babysitting for a family that has six kids. As pay, Caleb and I live in their guest house. We are very happy. Its in a good part of town and they live on 2 acres. For a while I've been Caleb for something to do and this is perfect!

We are less than 10 miles from his folks.

Our new kitchen, love all the cabiet space!

 The livingroom...

And our bedroom...the bedding set was a wedding gift and it matches perfectly. Yay! I finally get to use it :)

That's all I have time for now. Gotta go get ready for church and I have a BIG day tomorrow babysitting :)