9 months and beyond...

Washington D.C. trip...

2012-01-29T18:10:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to join Justin on a trip to Washington D.C. this month. It was amazing! I really enjoyed it and for sure want to go back someday! Perhaps when Justin can join me in our outings, he was at meetings most of the days. We did get to meet for lunch some days and then had dinner and the evenings together.

I think my favorite part was just being able to walk around so much and do what I wanted to do. Not having to worry about what others wanted to do was a huge deal for me, seeing how I usually have to worry about three other people and what they want to do to. Not that I am complaining about that because I love my boys and my husband and wouldn't change taking care of them for anything, but having a break is nice too. :)

If you ever get a chance to go to D.C. I would highly recommend doing some training before hand. Since you walk so much. :) I had a horrible blister after the first day and by the evening time I didn't want to walk anymore, which limited where Justin and I went for dinner. Also, recommend getting a hotel near a Metro stop, that would help a lot.

I will be posting this week about visiting Georgetown Cupcakes! This is the cupcake store that is on DC Cupcakes on TLC. Okay, enough rambling, here are some pictures!

Washington Monument

View of the Capital.

Isn't this doughnut amazing? It was huge!!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Me in front of the White House (this is the "back yard" of the White House)

The only picture Justin and I had taken together on this trip. In front of the White House.

Lincoln Memorial

A different resolution...

2012-01-03T14:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I can not believe it is two thousand and twelve...twenty twelve...2012!!!!

This past Sunday at church one of our pastors (who just happens to be married to my step sister, I guess I could have just put brother in law, oh well now it is even longer of a post), Chris, spoke about New Years resolutions. It really got me thinking.

So many of us make resolutions or goals for each year. Perhaps weight loss (always on my list, not just during at the beginning of the year), stop smoking, walk more. You get the idea, I am sure you too have made such a resolution. Our pastor asked a question "Is share Christ on your resolution list?" Talk about conviction! Straight to the heart too. I am ashamed to say that I have never put that on my list of things to do. And why not? It should be on our mind all the time.

Philippians 1:22a (ESV) If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.

Again, straight to the heart with that verse! Paul is saying that if he is alive here on earth then he will labor for Christ. Do I labor for Christ everyday? I am not even going to answer that due to the fact that I am ashamed of my answer. I don't know about you, but I can get distracted SO easily. When I go to bed at night I typically get inspired to do things the next day, but by the morning I am too tired or I get busy with other things that I don't do the stuff I had planned the night before. I have missed opportunities to minister to people because I decide I would rather stay home and sit by my email or look at facebook. Another thing Chris said was "It's not like we will get to the end of our life and wish we would have checked our email more." Shoot! Was he speaking directly to me or what?!?!

This year I have one thing on my list of goals/resolutions...Share Christ with others. Now that I have shared that with you, I am ask that you help keep me accountable to this. If you are out there and you don't know Christ I beg you to PLEASE leave me a comment with a way to contact you and I will be happy to share with you.

Stayed tuned in the next few weeks I plan to have a giveaway!

Zoo weather...

2011-12-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today, the 29th of December, we got to go to the zoo. We had light jackets on and it was just absolutely perfect weather! I am so glad that God blessed us with this weather today. We were really able to have a wonderful time seeing God's beautiful creations, playing with friends and for me getting to visit with another mom! :)

Here are a few pictures...

Teacher gifts...

2011-12-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

I have really enjoyed being the mother of a student this year! It has been fun getting to know Ian's teachers and just seeing how much Ian has learned and grown since starting school has been great.

With it being Christmas time I wanted to get the teachers a gift that they would actually like and be able to use. Not something that would be re-gifted as a dirty Santa gift. So we got his two main teachers gift certificates to a salon and spa place and the sub teacher some lotion and chocolates.

I did, however want to have Ian be a part of the gift. So instead of him making something or picking something out I did an interview with him about his teachers! It was so fun doing the interview. His answers were great. Then I had him put his hand print on them. You know the teachers may not keep it but I know they got a kick out of his answers too and really making them smile was the whole point!

Wow, I have gone a long time...

2011-12-19T09:58:00.001-08:00

I just realized it has been a while since I have posted anything on here! I want to say that nothing much is going on around here, but I don't think that would be true. I am an early shopper so I have been ready for Christmas for a while now! I actually wish this week would go by fast because I love...LOVE...to watch people open there presents! As I have mentioned before, my love language is gifts, so seriously love to see the joy they bring people! Also, I haven't seen my Brother and his family for a while, so I am looking forward to seeing them!

I guess I will just post a few pictures of the past few weeks. I can't think of much else to write! Catch me on my weight loss blog if you get a chance.

Let's get together...

2011-11-29T06:11:00.000-08:00

I think I mentioned in my last post just how close the ornaments are on our tree. Ian seems to continue to want to move them all to the same spot, thinking that Owen will not be able to get to them. :) He cracks me up! Here is a picture of where he seems to is the perfect spot for all the ornaments, well at least several of them!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

2011-11-27T20:22:00.001-08:00

We got our Christmas tree decorated this weekend! It was so fun this year because Ian was old enough to help. He seemed to have fun and loves to look at the ornaments that are on the tree. I tried to tell him a little about each of the "special" ones and now he will show me the "special" ones. Like the ornament we got our first year of marriage, and the Elvis ornament that my college roommate gave me.

It was also fun to tell him why we celebrate Christmas. How it is Jesus' birthday and about what the star on the top of the tree means.

Our ornaments are close together and the back part doesn't even have any on it, but I don't care! It was so much fun and great family time and wonderful memories were made. I look forward to when both boys can help!

unrealistic expectations

2011-11-19T05:50:00.001-08:00

As a women, I tend to have unrealistic expectations about pretty much everything! I was just talking to some friends about how when I was in high school I was "in love" with so many guys. I thought I knew what love was back then, but I just don't know how you can know what it is until you are married.

Which brings me to my subject of today. Marriage. I am realizing why people are getting divorced right and left. They have unrealistic expectations of what marriage is.

Some things they think marriage should be or provide:

1. never being lonely
2. forgetting your past hurts/heartbreaks
3. breakfast in bed and s*x all the time

Those are only a few things that I can think of. I know that so many people believe these will be true, but let me tell you people, it is not. I am married with two kids and I have days where I feel lonely. I love my husband so much and I know he loves me, but I am still hacked at the guy who just stopped calling me, I am glad we didn't end up together, but still would have preferred he ended it in a better way. I am pretty sure the only times I have had breakfast in bed were when I was on bed rest and I am not even going to address the other issue. ;)

I am so glad that Justin and I had an amazing newly wed class at our church to go to. It was what I believe helped build our foundation for a good marriage. Now will we have hard times, yes, but because of that foundation we will make it. God taught us so much in that class.

I don't want to discourage people from getting married. I think it is so great and I couldn't imagine my life with out Justin in it as my husband. I just think people need to be aware that it takes work, don't give up the first time things don't go your way, in fact don't give up the 100th time things don't go your way. If you need counseling then get it. It is important to fight for that love that you know you once had.

I hope this made sense. It sounded so good when I "typed" it up in my head, but it never comes out the same when I type it up in real life.

2011-11-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick, but more than that, I hate it when one of my boys is sick...on a weekend...on the Sunday we are scheduled to teach in preschool.

Yeah, Ian is sick again. Woke him up this morning, which should have been my first clue that something was wrong because he usually wakes us up, and he had thrown up in bed. Then continued to throw up all through the morning. At this point (11:45ish) he seems to finally be keeping down his water, which is good. Hopefully we won't have to go to the doctor or hospital. I was worried at first since he wasn't keeping his water down that we would have to go get an IV or something. Hopefully we can just let it ride out and he will be better soon.

Just keep us in your prayers. I felt a little flash back to when he was sick for two weeks with diarrhea. I started crying and just felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack. After going to my counselor a few weeks ago I realized that I felt like I was a bad mom since I couldn't help him through all of that. I just want to be a good mom and take care of my kids. They mean the world to me!

On a completely unrelated note, Owen is already turning into a computer nerd ;) I love it though! Maybe he will invent something that people can't live with out and make all sorts of money so Justin and I will be taken care of in our old age. :) Or maybe he won't, I will love him no matter what!

Cars...

2011-11-08T05:44:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Ian, Owen and I got the opportunity to see Lighting McQueen and Mater from Cars! It was really fun. We even got a goody bag afterwards! Here are a few pictures. They didn't turn out very good, not sure why. But they took some so I can go online and look at them from there. If I figure out the link I will show it to you guys too!

Snickerdoodle cookies...

2011-11-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

I do love snickerdoodle cookies. But I have to be honest, the first time I heard of them I thought they would have snickers in them.

Happy Halloween...

2011-11-01T06:23:00.001-07:00

Owen in his first costume of the night. He was an octopus, but I decided he would get to hot in that costume so I changed him to a cowboy for the evening. (the octopus costume was a hand me down from Ian)

Ian the pirate and Owen the cowboy getting ready to go trick or treating in my mom and step dad's neighborhood!

They really liked watching the kids come up to the door. Ian liked all the fun costumes!

squash recipe...

2011-10-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure what inspired me to cook squash today, but I did! I guess I knew that it was going to go bad soon. Whatever the reason I am glad that I did! Here is what I did...

Cut squash up in slices (however thick is up to you). I put them in a little bit of buttermilk (mainly because I had some and didn't want it to go to waist like it usually does), coat them well. Then I dipped them in some parmesan cheese (I used shredded, but I guess you could use grated too). Then sprinkled a little rosemary on the entire pan. I highly recommend using fresh rosemary over dried rosemary, I think the texture is much better fresh. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, I put it on broil for the last minute and a half. Take out and enjoy! I did!

I paired it with some strawberries and a piece of garlic toast! Turned out to be a lovely meal!

A reminder is sometimes needed...

2011-10-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

My sweet friend emailed me today this link to a video by Steven Curtis Chapman. I have really been depressed as of late and this was just the reminder I needed to do everything I do for the glory of God. I hope it encourages you too!

a little too much to drink...

2011-10-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

I guess this monkey puppet had a little too much to drink :) (I swear I didn't pose it that way, one of the kids through it in the pack n' play. I know your next question is "why is the potty chair in your pack n' play?" The answer is: we have a 1 year old who likes to play with it while it is not in use.)

Fun food day...

2011-10-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

I declared today to be fun food day! We had our friends Misti (aka: Teetee) and Calvin over for lunch and play time.

I made hot dogs with spaghetti pulled through them (they looked cool, but the kids preferred the hot dogs with out the spaghetti). It was easy to make, you just push uncooked spaghetti noodles through a piece of hot dog then cook them like you would normally.

We had cheese in the shape of a teddy bear and alligator (all though the boys thought it was a dinosaur). This is pretty self explanatory, but just in case I will tell you that I took a cookie cutter and cut out shapes in sandwich cheese. :)

Last we had apple mouths (not sure if that is the official name but I will call them that). That is apples with a little bit of peanut butter and then mini marshmallows in the middle! I think that was my favorite part of lunch.

At nap time Ian prayed and thanked God for fun food day! That just made my day! Here are some pictures of our food from today and a few silly photos of me and the boys with our cheese goatees. :)

The boys were using the cheese slices as phones. Since it was fun food day I allowed it. :)

Dinner and dancing...

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a date! I was so happy when he asked me, it came out of nowhere. It happened on the way to school, the most amazing, cute and cool three year old asked me to go on a date with him! :)

Ian is just so cute when it comes to wanting to go on dates with me. Yesterday on the way to school he said "but mommy, we didn't go on a date." I was like "I know, we are on our way to school" and that is when he asked if we could go on a date. I checked with Justin (my awesome hubs) and he said yes!

Ian and I headed to IHOP for dinner. I love when he chooses IHOP because not only does he eat free, but I love breakfast for dinner! They seated us in a section where we were the only ones there. So when Ian asked me to do ring around the roses and to dance I said yes! It was so much fun. There is nothing better than having dinner and some dancing with your three year old! Loved it.

After dinner we, of course, headed to Target. Looked at toys and TVs and had a great time! He wanted to listen to the CD sampler, but it was broken. :( He was bummed, seeing how that is one of his favorite things to do.

Oh, I should mention that he used the potty at IHOP!!! I was so proud of him!

Over all it was a great night!

I love this kid!! This isn't from our date, but I thought I would share this picture of him eating Nutella and pretzels. :) A kid after my own heart!

Potty training...

2011-10-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

It has finally begun at our house! I didn't think Ian would ever want to use the potty. In fact I have asked him several times if he wants to use the potty or wear big boy underwear and he says "No, I'm okay".

Things just changed yesterday! He was in my bathroom when he saw the crayola banks (piggy banks in the shape of crayons) that I had hidden in my closet. Oops, I guess that wasn't a great hiding spot, but who cares. Ian wanted to get them out and I told him that he had to start using the potty in order to get them. I explained how we would make a chart and he could put stickers on it and once he went a certain amount of times he would get prizes (the crayon banks). To my surprise he said he wanted to go potty in the frog potty!

Seriously, I was SO shocked! I thought he would end up wearing diapers till he was 16. :)

He has now gone 4 times in the potty! He has to go 7 times before he gets one of his prizes. He is also getting a few skittles each time he goes. I remembered my sister did something like that too and it seems to work.

We went and got him pull ups and some more big boy underwear yesterday. I told him that his teacher will tell me if he goes potty at school today and if he does then he will get a sticker and skittles when he gets home. He seemed okay with that.

I just hope this works! I would love to have him potty trained! Just in case it doesn't work, leave me a comment on what worked for you! I would love to have more ideas.

Googly eyes, I just like to say it...

2011-10-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I love googly eyes, don't you? Ian says it in the absolute cutest way. It makes me want to record him saying googly eyes just so I can share it with you all!

I recently joined Pinterest. I know you are probably wondering "what does that have to do with googly eyes?", well you are about to find out!

I found the cutest little table decoration on there! Someone had pinned it on there board so I did too and decided to make it. It cost me $2 to make this craft! I got the googly eyes at Dollar Tree and a styrofoam pumpkin there as well! Just glue the eyes all over the pumpkin and you're done! Isn't that cute? I love it.

Now the question is, what else can I do with googly eyes? They are so much fun! Do you have any craft ideas for googly eyes?

Okay, I gave in and had Ian say it for the video. :)

cookies and company...

2011-10-10T06:36:00.001-07:00

Let me first start by saying we are done with the sickness that Ian had! Two weeks it lasted. I know our entire family is so happy that it is done and over with!

Which brings me to our company. Justin's parent's, sister and Aunt are here for a visit! We are having a good time. The boys are doing really good with them. On Saturday we went to the outlet mall and shopped and then had lunch at Smashburger (of course)! They were so sweet and bought the boys lots of clothes! Yesterday we met them at church and then had lunch at Johnnies (mmm!) The rain made for a good setting to have naps, so the boys and I headed home to lay down. Today we are planning on going to Mardel, which I am very excited about because we haven't been there in a while!

So we took this family picture at church on Sunday. I planned ahead and fixed my hair and of course the one time I have a good hair day, Ian is right in front of my face so you can't tell. Oh well.

The boys in their matching PJ's that his family got him! Yes, Ian is playing with an iPhone, Grandpa was letting him watch videos.

Owen turned 15 months on the 8th! He is getting so big and just walks all over the place. I just love watching him grow! See his one month picture here.

Last night I made cookies (I kind of bribed Ian while getting his hair cut. I told him if he would just let me cut it I would make cookies). They were good, at least I thought so. I found the recipe on one of my friends Pinterest boards. It was a Pioneer Woman recipe (I will share it below, it's easy as 1,2,3).

Nutella Cookie recipe (Found here at Pioneer Woman)

1 cup Nutella
½ cups Sugar
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 whole Egg
1/2 cup peanut butter chips (not on the original recipe)
1/2 cup marshmallows (Not on the original recipe, I actually will leave these out the next time I make them, they didn't really add anything to the cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Blend all ingredients together well. Form into 1″ balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Press down firmly with the bottom of a glass. Bake 7-8 minutes or until set. Cool.

eating at home...

2011-10-05T09:25:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Jessica and I am an eater outer.

I joke with that line, but really I am. Back in the day, before kids, I used to call Justin when ever I thought I would be eating out, just to make sure he was okay with it. After all it was our money, not just mine. I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point after we began to have kids I stopped asking him if it was okay to eat out during the week or I would call him while en route to the place I would be eating. Either way not good.

I think for some reason I justified going out for lunch because it got me out of the house and as so many stay at home mom's/wives know, getting out is a huge boost to moral (at least to mine anyways).

To make this quick, Justin pointed out that we could save money if I wouldn't eat out so much during the week. He is a great husband and said it in a very nice way. It got me to thinking that I really do need to stop eating out during the week. Every now and then isn't bad, but I was doing it everyday, sometimes for breakfast and lunch!

Now my new rule is if it costs more than $2 then I need to seek Justin's approval. I told him that it is okay if he says no. Now we have gone three days with no eating out for breakfast or lunch! Part of that is because the boys are sick, but I was really tempted to pack the boys up today and get something from McDonald's. I resisted though. It helped that my friend Misti brought me a Diet Dr. Pepper! :)

What are ways that you save money?

Meant to be...

2011-10-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

The other night Justin, my number 1 hot husband, and I got to take a much needed date night! It was really more of a date afternoon/evening.

We started out by going to the outlet mall and eating linner or should I say dunch? You know kind of like brunch but putting lunch and dinner together. It was like 3:30. Anyways, my favorite hamburger place is there, Smashburger, so we ate there. Then we decided to go look around places we don't usually get to enjoy going to with kids. It was nice! We went to Best Buy, Ulta, Walmart and last but not least Office Depot.

While I was checking out at Office Depot Justin was off looking at some more "toys" they had at the other register. When the guy told me my total was $19.81, I said "that was a good year." He kind of looked at me like I was weird, which I am so no insults there. ;) When Justin came over I told him what our total was and get this, he said "that was a good year." We were SO meant to be together!

We finished our evening with some ice cream from Cold Stone. It was delish! Over all we had a wonderful night! So thankful for date nights

Never would have thought...

2011-10-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

The last week and a half has been crazy around our house. It started out with Ian getting sick. I'm talking throw up in the bed and in the car. YUCK. Then it turned to diarrhea, again not fun and a big YUCK! We thought he was getting over it, but Sunday morning I was hit with a huge wave of gross when I opened Ian's door. I had to take him directly to the bathtub and clean him up.

To make a long story longer and a little more graphic, Ian has continued to have this sickness. We took him to the doctor and they said he was hydrated and that he should get over it soon. Well since he didn't I called back and they said we could do some tests on his stool. That brings us to today.

Today was a day full of poop. There I said it. It is really the only way to describe my day. It started out with Owen, yep Owen has it now. Owen was covered in poop, his crib was covered in it too, dolls, sheets, EVERYTHING!!!

So I cleaned him up in the bathtub, which let me just say is much harder to do with a one year old than with a three year old. With Ian he understood what needed to be done, Owen not so much. He wanted out so bad and was shivering. I felt so bad for him.

After that I got Ian changed (yep, nasty diaper). Then I realized that Owen had "stuff" under his nails. Never thought I would be cutting my sons nails because there was poop under them.

Now then back to Ian. His doctor had told us they could do a test, but we had to collect his stool (like how I keep changing how I say poop?). Never in my life did I think I would be scooping poop out of my sons diaper with a tongue depressor. Let me just tell you that I never, NEVER want to do that again! YUCK! But I sure hope they figure out why he still has this nasty sickness. :( Poor kid.

Somewhere in the midst of all of this I washed sheets and dolls and drove madly to the doctor's office and to the Lab to drop off his samples for them to test.

So there you go. The day of poop. Hoping it is over and that it never happens again. I know what you are thinking, you are completely jealous of my day. Right? No? Oh well I can dream that someone is jealous of my day of poop.

Twinkle, Twinkle little star...

2011-10-02T17:57:00.001-07:00

These boots were made for walking...

2011-09-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

Owen has started to walk! I am so excited. So far he just takes a few steps to something he can hold on to, however this morning he actually took about 10 steps to no where! I was able to get him on camera finally taking a few steps. He won't do it if he knows I am filming though, so that is why it is his back side. :)

sick, sick and more sick...

2011-09-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Our house has been hit. Hit with the sick bug. The crazy thing is, is that it just doesn't seem to go away! Poor Ian has been sick since last Friday. Tummy issues. :(

I got it one day, but I think it is hitting kids harder for some reason. Although, I will say that it is taking its toll on me too. I am used to being able to get out of the house and do things and I haven't been able to do that since Sunday! Last night I got out and got us dinner, but for some reason it just isn't the same as getting out during the day. Getting out at night takes away my time from Justin.

Anyways, just needed to vent a little bit. My attitude isn't very good this morning. I need to get moving so perhaps I will start to feel better (attitude that is).

free printables...

2011-09-27T16:03:00.000-07:00

I found a super cute blog called Sweet Blessings. It is so fun and cute! I absolutely love it. She has these really cute printables that are free! FREE I tell you! I printed one and put it in a frame that I had purchased at a garage sale a while back. What do you think?

Some videos you might enjoy...

2011-09-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ian turned 3 today...

2011-09-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

Can you believe my baby is 3? I can't! He just gets funnier and funnier everyday! I love him so much and am so proud of the little boy he is becoming. We spent some time outside today and enjoyed the nice weather. Then we finished up with him having a car shaped sandwich with a candle in it!

Speical Agent Oso birthday party...

2011-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Ian's 3rd birthday! Of course he doesn't actually turn 3 until the 18th, however we have several friends that have his same birthday or close to it so we opted to celebrate early rather than compete for times on the actual day.

My awesome husband made the invitations! He is awesome! What, I said that already? Well it needs to be mentioned twice. Here are the invitations that he made, Special Agent Oso was our theme!

The cake was made by none other than Lacye's Cakery and Cookies. The cake was YUMMY! I am realizing that the more people you invite to the party the less cake you take home. So, um, yeah some of Ian's friends have got to go, I want more of her cake left over! Just kidding, but it is that good. And isn't the art on it amazing too? Yep it is!

Here are a few more pictures from his party. We are so blessed to be able to have had it at our church. We had lots of fun and are so blessed by all of our friends and family.

lessons being learned...

2011-09-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today we went and visited a little girl at the hospital. She was so cute and sweet. She acted as though she had known us forever. I hadn't seen her since she was just a baby and now she is 4 1/2.

Anyways, not really the point of the story.

On our way we stopped at Starbucks to get LG's (this is the little girls name and no, it doesn't stand for little girl) mom an apple cider. Ian kept saying how much he likes starbucks, like he goes there all the time or something. He then asked if he could have a drink of the apple cider and I told him no it is for our friend. This led to a huge crying fest and fit throwing fest. Not a fun ride to the hospital.

Fast forward to when Justin got home and we were telling him about our day. I was explaining to Justin the story about the apple cider fit and Ian spoke up and said "yeah, I cried and screamed" Justin then asked him "was that right or wrong?" and Ian said "wrong".

The point of this story is that lessons are being learned. Some times it just takes a few tears (both his and mine) to get it through to him!

My baby is 14 months old...

2011-09-08T17:46:00.001-07:00

Owen is 14 months old today! I can't believe how much he has changed. He now has 5 teeth, which explains a lot about the way he has been acting lately. :)

I also had to share this picture. I just think it is so cute. Owen looking up at Daddy and Daddy looking down at Owen. Heart warming!

Picture post...

2011-09-02T20:39:00.001-07:00

This is Ian at age 17 months.

This is Owen at age 14 months

Ian and Owen playing catch.

We bought a Leapster LeapPad at a garage sale last summer and Ian seems to really like it!

Ian's "first" day of school. I forgot my camera on his real first day of school so I told him we would pretend that his second day was really his first. :) Because that is the kind of mom I am.

Our friends Lindsey and Kyle invited us over to their neighborhood swimming pool a few weeks ago. Of course now they have moved and we will miss them a lot!

Forever friends...

2011-08-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that there are different kinds of friends. There are friends whom you love, but you know that if there were to ever be a change (like one of you move away) that your friendship would not be the same or really continue on for long after the change. Then there are friends, who I like to call Forever Friends. Those are your friends who will always be your friends. It doesn't matter where you live or what you are doing in your life. You know they will always be there for you. Even if you go a while with out talking or seeing each other, you can just pick right up where you left off.

I am blessed enough to have several Forever Friends. One of which also has a blog, her name is Liesl. She moved away from Oklahoma about a year ago and even though we don't get to see each other we are still able to keep up with each other and encourage each other.

The reason I am bringing up Liesl is because we are about to start a 30 day challenge. You can read about it on my weight loss blog. I would love for you to join me in prayer as we work to get healthy and clean up God's temple. (see 1 Corinthians 6:19)

Can you relate...

2011-08-23T10:18:00.001-07:00

This is how I feel when I am depressed:

I would rather sit than stand
I would rather spend money then not
I would rather eat chocolate instead of fruit
I would rather eat anything
I would rather sleep then even be on the couch
I would rather watch TV than work out
I would rather eat out then cook at home
I would rather have my kids be entertained with TV then with me playing with them

This is how I feel when I am happy:

I would rather do things then sit on the couch
I think about saving money rather then spending it
I still like my chocolate, but I enjoy eating fruit too
I still like to sleep, but not as much
I like to cook at home rather then eat out
I still like to watch TV but I don't feel the need to have it on 24/7
I like to play with my kids to entertain them rather then having the TV do it

I'm not sure how I am feeling today, but I just thought I would share this because for some reason I thought someone out there might need to know they are not alone.

In fact you are never alone! If you are a believer in Christ and have put your faith in Him, He is with you always.

Keep your head up and look to the one who made you for approval. You are loved. Remember God is not mad at you, He loves you and will forgive you. (My friend Syd reminded me of this)

smashburger...

2011-08-22T11:31:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe that I have now been to smashburger a second time and I didn't take a picture of my food! It was so good and I can't wait for there to be one closer to where I live. Although, it may not be good for my weight loss and money saving when it opens. ;)

get away...

2011-08-17T13:33:00.001-07:00

We finally did it! Justin and I were able to have a get away last week! We started on Thursday night and didn't pick the boys up until Saturday evening! It was so relaxing and refreshing. We stayed at a hotel here in the city so we wouldn't feel like we had to go to touristy stuff. Although, we did end up going to our new outlet mall, which was nice. And we discovered the best burger EVER at smashburger! A must try if you have one near by and especially if you go to one in OK because then you can order the Oklahoma burger...best...burger...ever!

Anyways, we really did enjoy our time. My favorite part was just hanging out by the pool. One night we sat down there and read our books, then the next day I just laid out by the pool and had a drink and wrote in my notebook. It was really nice. Here are some of our pictures, I can't believe I didn't take more pictures!

I love a good laugh...

2011-08-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

Feeling blessed...

2011-08-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

Tonight Justin and I loaded the boys up and went to church. We usually go to church on Sunday mornings, but because we are bringing snacks tomorrow to our FLOCK we decided we would go tonight so that I would have time to make the snacks tomorrow with out stressing out.

We weren't at church more than 10 minutes and we began to smell smoke. You could tell everyone else smelled it too. Pretty quick after that we were told that we were okay and church continued on. The smoke smell became pretty strong and caused my allergies to go in to super bad mode! At first I was just thinking of myself and how annoyed I was that my allergies were bothering me, then it hit me. Some where someones house or land is on fire. I began to then thank God for allowing my allergies to be the only thing I had to worry about tonight.

My heart is just broken for those who are having to evacuate there houses. I can't imagine what that would be like. We actually have several people that we know who are being evacuated. Please keep these families in your prayers tonight and in the coming days. Please pray for rain to continue to fall (it is raining tonight, thank you LORD!). Here is a link to the article about the fire.

Have I mentioned...

2011-08-04T09:11:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned lately that my husband is awesome? Because he is, VERY awesome! We are in the midst of planning Ian's 3rd birthday (I know can you believe it? It seems just like yesterday that I posted about him being born). I asked Justin if he could try to create some Special Agent Oso birthday invitations, since it seems that even though he is a very popular cartoon on Disney Junior, they have yet to have much products for him.

Okay moving right along to how awesome my husband is...He got on the computer and has started doing some amazing work! I can't wait to see and share the final product with you guys.

a must watch video...

2011-08-01T06:35:00.000-07:00

IT'S SO HOT AND DRY IN OKLAHOMA....

2011-07-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

I got this off of a friends facebook page note. I thought it was worth sharing. :)

IT'S SO HOT AND DRY IN OKLAHOMA....

....the birds have to use potholders to pull the worms out of the ground.

....the trees are whistling for the dogs.

....the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.

....hot water comes from both taps.

....you can make sun tea instantly.

....you learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.

....the temperature drops below 95 F (35 C) and you feel a little chilly.

....you discover that in July it only takes two fingers to steer your car.

....you discover that you can get sunburned through your car window.

....you actually burn your hand opening the car door.

....you break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30A.M.

....your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death"?

....you realize that asphalt has a liquid stage.

....the potatoes cook underground, so all you have to do is pull one out and add butter.

....the cows are giving evaporated milk.

....farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs

Larry Boy...

2011-07-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

We got to meet Larry Boy today! Our LifeWay Christian Store had Larry Boy, from Veggie Tales, come and visit today. It was really cool! Ian was a little nervous at first and didn't really want to hug him or anything. But then Larry Boy wanted to give him five, and he was okay with that. After that he warmed up pretty good and was giving him hugs before we left! Owen didn't really know what was happening, but had fun with it. Here are a few pictures of our fun time and a quick video.

Really trusting...

2011-07-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Do you really trust God? I mean enough to say I won't complain for a whole entire day about what happens?

Well I am not there yet. I wish I could say that I was. What a huge stress relief that would be, not having to worry about anything! I realized this morning that one thing I can trust God with (well I CAN trust him with everything, but you get my point, right?) is the amount of sleep I get. This morning I woke up and did my Bible study and as I was praying both the boys woke up. At first I was going to let words of complaint leave my mouth, but then it hit me...He knows! God knows how much sleep I need and He knows that right at that very moment I was going to be good to go. So I just went and got them out of their rooms and continued on with my day. I tried to not even complain about it to my friend Misti and I didn't complain about it on facebook!

Of course nap time came and I took a nap while the boys did, only to be woken up again with Owen crying horribly. I find it interesting just how quickly we forget the things we learn. I am just like one of the Israelites coming out of Egypt with Moses. How quickly they forgot that God parted the red sea. Well I very quickly poured me a bowl of cereal and relied on that instead of God to get me through this time of being tired. Man, my golden calf may look different but it sure serves the same purpose.

I think my prayer for this week will be to truly "trust in the LORD with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

(I have to give props to my friend Ashleigh who tried to tell this to me one time. I listened but I guess I didn't hear.)

Happy birthday sweet Owen...

2011-07-09T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated our sweet Owen's first birthday! We had lunch at a local place called Johnnies Charcoal Oven. We were so blessed to have so many of our friends and family come and celebrate with us!

This year, after one failed try at making a veggie tales cake, we decided to order a cake. We have a friend from our church who does amazing things with cakes and cookies, so we decided to order from her. I was SO happy with the decorations that she did on the cake. I almost cried this morning when I saw how perfect it was! Now sometimes cakes can look pretty and just taste okay, however this cake not only looked great, but it tasted great too! And I am not the only one who felt that way! So many of the guests commented on how great it was too. I am kind of bummed though because she is going back to teaching so she won't be doing the cakes and cookies as much, which means if we don't get an order in at the right time then we may have to go else where. I really wish I had a lot of money and could just partner up with her in this business. You see she could do all the cooking and decorating, I could do PR and deliveries and deal with all the people. That would really be one of my dream jobs.

Oops, I guess I got off subject a little bit. Okay, back to Owen...

He loved the cake too! He just dove right into it! Unlike Ian, who even today took his pretty little time eating it, or should I say picking at it. So fun to see the way they are different and the ways they are similar!

Owen got lots of gifts today! Clothes and toys and more clothes and toys! We are so blessed! Here are some pictures of our big party!

1 year...

2011-07-08T20:59:00.001-07:00

Owen at one month

Owen at 12 months!

More to come tomorrow!

Dare I use the title "Happy 4th of July"...

2011-07-04T21:08:00.001-07:00

Today was such a great day. I just really enjoyed it. We had my mom and step dad over for breakfast and some morning play time! Here is our day in words and pictures...

Breakfast consisted of french toast with berry butter and bacon, recipe brought to you by none other than The Pioneer Woman. Let me tell you, the berry butter is SO good and SO worth making. Her recipe called for blackberries and raspberries, however when I went to the store they were out of blackberries and I am not a huge fan of raspberries. So I got blueberries and strawberries. The blueberry butter was the best tasting but not as pretty. The strawberry butter was good too and it looked pretty. I think that the blueberry won hands down, not that it was a competition. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures! Oh well, go check out PW and see what it should have looked like. :)

After breakfast we went outside while it was still "cool" (if you know anything about OK heat you know that I use that term loosely). We played with the "new" jeep (purchased at a garage sale), the new pool (Nana and Papa got it for Owen for his birthday). It was so much fun! Here are some pictures...

Ian's first day of school...

2011-06-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

We decided to sign Ian up for the christian learning center at our church. The fall semester doesn't start till the end of August, but we decided to put him in the summer session so that he could get used to it before going in the fall. In the fall he will go two days a week, but for now he is only going one day a week. I think this is not only good for him, but good for me too. I was okay with everything until I got to the church and realized I hadn't put the memory card in the camera. Ugh. I wanted to cry so bad, but I held back and pulled out my camera phone. I am hoping to have gotten at least one good picture from it. We will just have to wait and see. I should know how to get the pictures off of it seeing how my brilliant husband has taught me how to do it. Lets just say I have mommy brain and just can't remember how to do it.

Ian woke up before Justin left today, so I was able to get a picture of them together on his first day of school!

Okay, back on subject. Ian was SO excited to go to school today! He has been talking about it all week. On the way to school he worried me a little bit because he got a little sad because he asked if his best friend Calvin would be there and I told him no, but he could make other friends. He didn't like that answer and said he just wanted to go home and play with Calvin. Again, I wanted to cry a little but resisted for his sake.

Ian looking like a big boy with his backpack and lunch box!

Once we got to school he perked up. He didn't even care that he was going to be away from me and Owen for 5 hours! He just walked right into the room like he had been doing it for years. I had to call him back, this time for my sake, and have him give me a hug and kiss. Being the sweet kid that he is he ran and gave me a hug and kiss then ran back and started playing with the toys.

Ian showing off his new lunch box.

When I picked him up I asked him what his favorite part was and he said the toys! He then told me that he went down the slide, but that it was warm, he painted and learned about animals. He also said "I want to go back to school!" How wonderful is that? I love that he wanted to go back.

Tried to get him to show off his art, but it just wasn't happening.

I feel so blessed that we can take him to school. Thank you God for providing for us a wonderful church family and programs like the CLC.

Confessions of a 30 something mother...

2011-06-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

1. My kitchen is a mess. I'm talking trash needs emptied, dishes need cleaned and fridge probably needs cleaning out! And I have a small kitchen people. So it clutters up really fast.

2. I have clean laundry sitting in the baskets, on the back of the love seat and in the dryer just asking to be put away, I am choosing to ignore their call.

3. I think I have an addiction to garage sales.

4. After this week of having sick kids and sick husband in the house eating crackers all day, I am pretty sure my floor is now made up of cracker crumbs.

5. Keeping the above in mind, I also haven't vacuumed but once this week. I really should do it again so that my almost 1 year old doesn't eat the crumbs off the floor. Again, ignoring that call.

6. Last but not least, I still nap when my kids do. Well except for right this very moment as I am blogging while they nap. Again ignoring the call of all of the above chores!

I hope this makes some of you feel better. I am so not even close to being super mom or super wife. I am pretty sure only Mrs. Brady can do that and even she had a live in house keeper! Hmm, maybe I need my own little Alice. I am sure Owen wouldn't mind giving up his room so we could have a live in house keeper, right? :)

I think crafting runs in my family...

2011-06-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

This week was SO much fun! First, I decided last Sunday to help out at Vacation Bible School (VBS). I had actually felt God leading me to do this before then, but pushed it away and made excuses. I am SO glad that I finally listened to His calling. VBS was so much fun and I will for sure be helping out next year!

My two older nieces came and stayed with us Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon. It was a lot of fun. I had lots of things planned for us to do, but we didn't get to them all. One of the things we did was crafts! I had bought a t-shirt and capri pants at a garage sale and told my oldest niece that she could do what she wanted with them. Then the younger of the two dove right in and started to craft too! They both did sewing things. I was super impressed, actually I think they are better then me or will be soon anyway. :) Here are the projects they made.

Kylie made a purse out of the capri pants and then used the flowers from the t-shirt to add to the design. She found some tulle and some other matterial that I had on hand and used it as a strap and then to put as a "belt" around the "waist" of the purse.

Kaitlynn made this cute coin purse! She used part of some jeans and then some tulle as an accessory. She gave this to me :) I am proud to use it and show it off to others!

I just love those girls and am so proud of what great young ladies they are becoming. I just know great things are in store for them!

tulle time...

2011-06-09T20:29:00.000-07:00

I have to give credit to my husband for saying "tulle time", it took me a second to figure out what he was talking about, then I realized he wasn't saying "tool time" but "tulle time"! I don't think a day goes by that we don't laugh together! So blessed!

Now on to tulle time. I made a tutu for my friends daughter who is turning one (actually I think she turned one today, but her party is Sunday, I think, don't quote me on that). I am just worried it won't fit or look right, which is why I am going to try to get it to her tomorrow so that if it doesn't work I will be able to fix it before Sunday.

I should mention I now want a girl.

Oh, you already knew that? I guess it was a reminder then. :)

Back to the glitter and glam that is a tutu! I used the directions from this blog, but did it a little differently since I had already made one I knew a little more of how to do things. I also added a bow! I love it and just can't wait to see it on my sweet future daughter in law...er...friends daughter. (yeah, I am all about arranged marriages, can you blame me? My boys are too much of a catch, I don't want girls taking advantage of them! I guess I should get back to the subject at hand)

I also made a bow! Not sure if it is any good but I still had fun with it! I got to use the glue gun that my mother in law got me the last time they were here! Oh shoot, I just remembered that it is still out, I have got to put it away before the boys wake up in the morning!

Here are some pictures...

So proud...

2011-06-09T20:17:00.001-07:00

I am SO proud of Ian today! Ian and Owen have been going to child watch at the YMCA while I work out and today Ian got a sticker that said "great helper"! I was so proud of him! The teacher said that when she started picking up he just jumped right in and helped out. She also gave him a wipe and he started to wipe things clean! He is such a keeper!

Also, today he did some coloring with the dry erase colors. He had a lot of fun and made some great art!

Date night...

2011-06-06T19:51:00.000-07:00

I love our church! They are so good about planning events for the whole family. Tonight though was just for mom's and son's! They suggested that you (mom's) take your son(s) out to dinner then come up to the church to hear a speaker and see some cool animals.

At first I wasn't going to go because the event at the church didn't start until 7pm, which is Ian's bed time. But Justin urged me to go and I am very glad I did! The evening started at IHOP, Ian's choice. Which was a good choice because kids eat free from 4pm - 10pm! I love the kids menu they have there because they have pictures of all the choices, I wish all menus were like that. Ian knew just what to get, the smiley face pancakes! He seemed pretty excited!

After dinner we headed to the church. Thankfully our friends, Misti and Jolene, were there before us and got a good table close to the front! They had lovely little treats (cupcakes, suckers and Gatorade) on the table. Ian really liked the sucker and the chocolate crocodile that was on top of the cupcake. I on the other hand really enjoyed the cupcake!

I was a little worried that Ian wouldn't be able to sit through the speaker, but he did really well and I was very proud of him! After the speaker we got to get our picture taken with a kangaroo! They actually had lots of animals to choose from but we chose the kangaroo, it seemed the safest. :)

After the church event Ian and I made a quick trip to Walmart and then headed home! I would say that it was a great date night! I tried to teach Ian what you are to do on a date, like open doors (of course most doors are too difficult for him to open by himself, so that didn't happen tonight). I gave him money so he could pay for our meal! He really liked that. :) When we were putting him to bed I gave him a kiss, something we do every night, but told him that he shouldn't give out kisses on a normal date but that it was okay since I am his mommy ;) Here are some pictures of our fun night! The church also took pictures so once I get those I will post them as well.

I have to brag...

2011-06-05T19:49:00.001-07:00

I have an amazing husband! I just have to brag about him for a second. Today being Sunday, I needed to get a Sunday paper in order to get the coupons (yep, I have started to coupon, but that is for another post). After lunch we decided that we would just head home first and then we would stop and get a paper later. Well to make a long story longer we forgot to get one. We were both home, in our jammies sitting on the couch and it hit me "oh shoot, I forgot to get a paper!" I really didn't want to get out and get one, so my WONDERFUL husband got dressed and drove up to the corner gas station (hee hee that sounds small town doesn't it?) and got me my Sunday paper! What a great way to show me he loves me! And you know what? That encouraged me to show him that I love him by finishing the laundry (one of his love languages is acts of service).

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband. Do we have a perfect marriage? No. Do we argue or disagree on things? Yes. But do we trust that God is amazing and put us together for a reason? For sure! He is worth fighting for my friends and I hope that you find encouragement in this post. Because we know that even though things get hard, it is important to show our spouses that we love them in THEIR love language.

Thank you my love for speaking my love language by going to get the Sunday paper for me!

WFMW: Paper airplanes...

2011-06-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last night we had so much fun! Who would have thought that making paper airplanes would have allowed for some awesome family time? I know I sure wouldn't have. But we made some and just had fun with it. Our goal was to make it over the fan. Believe it or not it took a long time before we reached that goal, although the fan was on, so that is a valid excuse. :) So what works for me to beat summer time boredum? PAPER AIRPLANES! For more summer boredum busters go to We are THAT Family.

I wanted to get a better picture, but Ian was just so excited to throw them that I couldn't get a good shot. :) If you zoom in you will see that we named the airplanes, The Mom, The Ian, Olioengr and JCC7. We are such a cool family! :)

Crawler in the house...

2011-05-31T06:15:00.001-07:00

Owen is crawling!!! He has been working on it for a while but has now mastered the art of crawling. He used to just go a few crawls then fall on his belly, but now will just keep going! The video below doesn't do it justice, but still you get the idea.

Feel better mommy...

2011-05-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

My sweet 2 year old...um 2 1/2 year old, is so thoughtful. The other day he thought I didn't feel good, I actually felt fine, but he thought I didn't. So he gave me his hat and said "feel better mommy?" Of course I felt much better after being given such an amazing gift! ;)

Hmm, perhaps I should have "reenacted" the picture with some make-up and my hair fixed. Oh well, I guess I can understand why he thought I didn't feel good! :)

Short, sweet and to the point...

2011-05-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

I am SO blessed to have a husband who makes me smile. Today I asked him what he wanted to do on our date tomorrow and he answered with "party, party, party"! :) If you know us at all you know that that is more of a joke than serious. :) Thanks for the smile my sweet husband, I sure do love you!

Do you follow...

2011-05-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

Do you follow my weight loss blog? If not, head on over to Created in His Image and read what is going on with me and my weight loss!

boot scooting boogie...

2011-05-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick video of Owen doing his army crawl scoot move! He is so good at it now that this video doesn't even do it justice! (and this was just taken a few days ago) Oh and you may turn the volume down because we were watching TV and it really is kind of loud. Okay, I warned you, now watch my cutie pie go!

10 months...

2011-05-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Owen is 10 months old! He is just growing up so fast. I feel like it has gone by so much faster with him then it did with Ian. I guess having two kids can do that. He is SO close to crawling. I really wouldn't be surprised if he crawled this week! He scoots a lot now and today he even lifted his leg and moved it forward. I love that kid and can't wait to see him grow even more!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

2011-05-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

I am sure my husband will blush at my sharing this, but 5 years ago today we had our first kiss! :) Go ahead and say it...awwww. I love that man more and more each year! I am so blessed to be his wife.

To celebrate this holiday of our people...oh wait, neither of us is Mexican, but we needed an excuse to eat Alfredo's Mexican Cafe! Let me tell you if all of the food they served was gross I wouldn't care, because their glazed sopapilla is AWESOME! It is like a Mexican Krispy Kreme! YUMMY! If you are in the OKC area you must try them out. Here is the website so you can find the location closest to you. I should mention the food is wonderful too, so don't just go for the sopapilla , but for sure save room for it!

Now then, on to more pressing matters. Owen can stand up all by himself (well he has to hold on to something like a toy or couch)! He is just getting SO big! He is also on the verge of crawling. I am loving watching him get older. He also wants to play with the big boys (i.e. Calvin and Ian). We babysat Calvin (Ian's bff) the other day and Owen was crying till Justin put him on the floor with the big boys! Here is a picture of Owen standing up. Notice he is trying to get the remote. Like daddy, like brother, like Owen! :)

Like his daddy...

2011-05-04T21:28:00.000-07:00

Wow, since I am not on facebook anymore I guess I will be posting a lot more! I was looking at my husband's blog tonight and found this picture of him as a kid. This was actually taking as a screen shot from one of the home movies that his parent's brought one time they visited.

Here is a picture of our sweet Owen. They look so much alike!

Oh brownies, my weakness...

2011-05-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I made the brownies that Pioneer Woman mentioned on her blog. She called them "knock you naked" brownies. I am pretty sure they should have been called "you just gained 100 pounds so put your close back on" brownies! I told Justin that I can't make them anymore, unless I am going to be taking them to an event so others can eat them.

Now I don't usually brag too much about the things that I bake. Mainly because I am really not that great of a baker, although I do LOVE to bake. I have friends who are amazing at baking (check out my friend Lacye's blog). I'm talking do it for a living kind of good. Anyways, all that to say that I will brag on these! They are SO good! I guess I can't really say "I" am awesome because really the recipe was so easy that anyone could make these and be considered awesome!

So if you haven't tried these, then go right now...right NOW and get the stuff to make them. You won't be sorry (until weigh in day). :)

This picture does not do the brownies justice, but I didn't get a good enough shot before they were all gone. :)

mmm, the smell of brownies...

2011-05-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Do you follow The Pioneer Woman's blog? If you don't you should! She posted a recipe called "Knock You Naked Brownies". They look amazing. I have tried to make brownies like these in the past but they did not turn out quit as delicious looking as these. So I decided to give these a try (minus the nuts, the hubs and I are not fond of nuts in our brownies). They are currently cooling off and then I will put them in the fridge to finish the cooling. Hopefully they will be ready for a lovely desert tonight after the kids go to bed.

These probably won't be good for my weight loss, but it sure did make me happy to be in the kitchen doing something I love...baking! I will try to post a picture of the brownies, I will not however post a picture if it actually knocks us naked :)

Oh and if you want to head over to my weight loss blog, I posted there the other day (finally after about a 6 month break from it)! Just click here and it will take you to it!

I had a date...

2011-04-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a fun day. I went on a day with my 2 1/2 year old son. We started out the date by going to weigh in (um, we won't talk about the results of that), then we hit a few garage sales and a consignment sale. I should mention that my son likes to go shopping. He loves asking what everything is. The best part of our date was going dancing at Target.

Yes, you read that right! We went dancing at Target. You know those little sample CD players that have several CD choices so you can hear the songs before you buy them? Well that provided lots of entertainment for Ian and me. We seriously were dancing by the CD display! We got a few looks, some were "okay weirdo" look, others were "oh how cute" looks. But really Ian and I didn't care. We just had fun! I know that someday that won't be the case. Someday he will turn and walk away when I try to dance in the CD section of Target. So I enjoyed every minute of it!

We finished our date by eating lunch at Chick-fil-a. It was a great time that I was able to spend with just Ian. I am looking forward to my next date time with him! I asked if he would like to go on a date with me again, and he said yes. Of course I have two other boys to date too, so it might be a while before we go out again. ;)

I met the Pioneer Woman!

2011-04-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

If you are a blogger or blog stalker of any kind you know who the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond is. Her blog is so fun and entertaining to read. She really knows how to keep your attention with her writing.

Well, lucky me, she was in our home town doing a book signing for her new kids book "Charlie the Ranch Dog" and I got to go! I took my boys and arrived early to get my ticket to stand in line. I was number 50! Not too bad seeing how there were a lot...A LOT of people in line. My friend Lacye came with her baby boy and we hung out in line for about an hour before we made it to see her.

She was just as nice as could be. She took pictures with everyone that asked and was just so nice! She said Owen just melted her heart :) Can you blame her? He is pretty darn cute. Ian, at that point, wasn't really interested in doing anything other than play with the toys that the book store had.

Last night before bed, we read the book and Ian seemed to really like it. He wanted to read it again, but alas, we had to put him to bed. I told him we can read it tonight before bed though. It made me glad that we got the book. I would have felt bad if he didn't even like the book ;)

Here are some pictures from our fun time of meeting PW! Go to her blog and check out all the fun stuff she has going on.

Formula cans out the wazoo!

2011-04-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

Do you use formula? Do you constantly through away the cans thinking "surely there is something I can do with these"? No? Well surely I am not the only one who thinks things like this so I am going to share with you a list of things you can do with your old formula cans.

1. Crayon holder. I used a little Mod Podge and scrapbook paper and made this old formula can into our crayon holder, because you know they won't stay in the box for too long ;)

2. Grease holder. Yeah, you read right. I never know what to do with the bacon grease when I make bacon. Well I figured out the other day that old formula cans make for a great way to dispose of it! (I won't make you look at a picture of bacon grease) :)

3. Treat can. We had some friends of ours watch the boys for us while we went to a funeral. They very generously did it for free. So as a thank you I made them cookies and put them in an old formula can that I had decorated with scrapbook paper and mod podge! I don't think I took a picture of this, but it was cute! (at least I thought so)

I should mention that if you are using this for anything other than the bacon grease option you should clean it out. :)

So tell me, what would you do with an old formula can? Seeing how I have at least three more months of formula usage in my house I would love to hear your ideas!

*linked up to Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT family*

Have you ever wondered...

2011-04-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered if you missed your calling? I mean, when I have a really difficult day like today, it makes me wonder...Am I really called to be a stay at home mom or should I put my kids in daycare and go work? I know that those of you who have to work are probably saying to yourself "she is crazy!", but really don't you ever wish you could just have a break from doing what you do? I guess that is really all I want right now. I don't want to go to work outside the home, I just want a few days off to re-coop. You know what I mean? Anyways, just thinking to myself (or I guess really to the whole world that has access to this blog). I just needed to vent a little bit. It helps remind myself that I really do love being home with my boys! Thanks for listening today.

I found my inspiration!!!

2011-03-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been hard in regards to weight loss. I mean I just really didn't care. I had no desire to eat right or work out.

All that changed last weekend. I won't go into detail, but I will just tell you that I have found my inspiration. Something I thought I had lost forever. With that being said, I reached the 20 pounds gone mark this week! Can I get a what, what? :) I am so excited and can't wait to keep going. I know that I will have hard times again, but I am SO glad to be out of that slump.

hard water? Here is the answer...

2011-03-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

For a while now our dishwasher has not been cleaning our dishes very well. I mean, it cleans them in the sense that we feel safe eating off of them, but there has been a yucky film type stuff on our glasses and silverware and even the bottles and sippy cups. We finally decided to buy something to help with it and let me tell you something...it rocks! I couldn't believe how shinny our glasses were when the dishwasher was finished running. I totally should have taken before and after pictures so you could see the difference. Oh well, you will just have to take my word for it. :)

I guess I should actually tell you the products name, huh? It is called Lemi Shine. I got mine at Target. I guess I need to mention that Lemi Shine does not know who I am and they are not having me promote there product, although if they wanted to send me a years supply for free, I would totally accept it. Oh and Target isn't paying me either, again if they wanted to I wouldn't mind ;)

I should mention that my amazing husband made that sign for us to put on the dishwasher so we would know when things are clean and when they are dirty. Isn't he the best? I will answer that for you, YES he is!

Two things...

2011-03-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

First I would just like to make a request to anyone who makes candles. My request is this, PLEASE make a candle that smells like baking bread!

Who's with me? Is that not one of the best smells out there? I love it. Which brings me to my second thing...

I made bread! I really did it. With out a bread machine even! It was so yummy and surprisingly easy! Here are some pictures of the yummy goodness. And I will include the blog link of which I got the recipe.

Ian even helped me a little with the kneading!

Dough rising. Fun huh? :) I just realized I don't have the other pictures of the final product so you will have to wait. In the mean time, everyone write letters to candle companies asking for a baking bread candle! :) Oh and here is the link to the recipe...The Simple Dollar.

What I learned...

2011-03-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

8 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes. That is how long I went with out Diet Dr. Pepper.

Now many of you may be thinking "she failed," however it is quite the opposite my friends. While I did not make it 30 days with out soda, I have succeeded in learning the lesson God had for me!

Let me explain. I hope you are listening because what I am about to say is deep.

Sunday at church one of the elders spoke. Now this particular person is one that I absolutely enjoy listening to. But friends I will be the first to say that this was not a fun lesson to listen to. I am pretty sure God spoke to Dr. Rice and said "listen this lesson is for Jessica C., but she probably won't listen unless you speak it to the whole congregation." You see, it was about how we take things and make them our gods (little g) instead of turning to our God (big g). Man it hit home with me. As you are about to read. I am guilty of turning to Diet Dr. Pepper as my god. It started out so innocently because well it is a 0 point drink, so no harm done. But then it turned into a drink that I wanted...needed even for situations that seemed hard, sad, frustrating or even on joyous occasions. Read on to see what I have learned...

When I am stressed I drink a Diet Dr. Pepper, when I am angry I drink a Diet Dr. Pepper, when I am sad, happy, lazy, bored you guessed it...I drink Diet Dr. Pepper. What is wrong with this? Well in and of itself Diet Dr. Pepper is not bad. It is not a sin to drink it. No where in the Bible does it say don't drink Diet Dr. Pepper. You know what is a sin? When you look to Diet Dr. Pepper for relief, strength, an out from your situation. Why is it as a God believing person that I didn't go to God in all those times? My honest to goodness first thought has always been "do we have any Diet Dr. Pepper?"

What has changed...

Tonight for dinner I had some Diet Dr. Pepper. You know what? I enjoyed it, but even better, I felt no sense of relief, no burst of energy and no new attitude saying "you can do it." I simply felt the burn of the soda and honestly a little tummy ache because of all the sugar. I didn't even finish it! And you know what? I am SO glad! I am glad that God showed me that I no longer NEED Diet Dr. Pepper to get through tough situations. I NEED God! Such a simple thing that took all of 30 years, 11 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes for me to figure out.

Tell me, what has God taught you lately? Is there something that you put first or something that you "use" to give you relief rather than going to God? I would love to hear your story.

I leave you with this quote from Amy Parham's (season 6 contestant of Biggest Looser) book 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl. "There is no substitute for the relationships God brings into your life. Food cannot be your boyfriend or girlfriend. Food cannot even be your friend. Turning to it for comfort, acceptance, love, respect or to feel warm and fuzzy will never satisfy the longings of your heart that are intended for a relationship with God and others."

I just need to vent a little...

2011-03-03T14:04:00.001-08:00

I have to be honest, this day has been really hard. Not only did I not get much sleep last night (Owen woke up at 12ish, 3ish and again at 6:30ish), but I can't go to the fridge and grab my usual stress relief drink, diet Dr. Pepper.

Again, just being honest, I am not doing this 30 day challenge for the health benefits. I am not doing it to get off of caffeine. I am not doing it to hear from people about how I will eat less by not drinking soda. I am doing this because I can. Because I chose last month to begin doing challenges 30 days at a time. Have I cut out fries completely just because I didn't eat them for 30 days...NO. Do I have any intention of cutting out soda completely after this challenge is up, no not really.

With the day that I have had I posted several comments on Facebook expressing just how much I really wanted a diet Dr. Pepper. And to be honest, I probably would have had a much better day if I would have been able to drink one. However, many people used the comment section on my status to "encourage" me. To be honest (and well you will see I am going to be honest) very few of the comments did encourage me. In fact they made me pretty mad and even more frustrated then I already was. You see, I don't need people to tell me about the science and the health of not drinking soda, I know that it isn't the most healthy thing in the world. I needed friends who would say "no matter what you chose today I will stand by you and support you and will still be your friend", I got that from two of my friends, whom I love dearly. One didn't do it via facebook comment, the other did. But both meant the world to me. One of them said this " 2011 is your year of "what if I DO succeed at the things that I have always told myself I can't" :) You are stronger than you realize, and where you aren't...His strength will be made perfect in our weakness! Love you, and am praying for you!"

I loved that. His strength will be made perfect in our weakness! Those simple words were part of what I needed to hear. The other was this "I know you are having a hard day and whether or not you decide to change your challenge, I just want you to know that I will support your decision no matter what you choose."

To my two friends who said just what I needed to hear...THANK YOU. I did not give in to the diet Dr. Pepper. I did get tea and honestly I did eat more than I needed.

To my friends who might get offended about what I am writing, I am not out to offend you. I just needed to vent. I still love each of you and appreciate the thought of your words. I know none of you meant to upset me. But when someone is quiting something they are very much addicted to there is only so much they can take (and by "they" I mean "me").

So there you go. For those who can still drink soda, please drink one for me and enjoy it with all of your heart!

30 day challenges...

2011-02-24T12:57:00.000-08:00

I finished strong with no fries for 30 days! I was shocked at how easy it was to not order fries. The hardest part was not eating off of Ian or Justin's plate. I have decided to continue with not ordering fries for now, but if I do it won't be the end of the world :) I also won't kick my self in the butt if I eat one of Ian's or Justin's. I learned that I actually enjoy eating the fruit and side salad's that fast food places offer. And I enjoy the veggie options at the "sit down" places too.

Now on to my next 30 day challenge. I will admit it is going to be WAY harder than the no french fries challenge. I am going to go 30 days with out drinking soda...yes you just read right. This diet Dr. Pepper addict is going to not drink soda for an entire 3o days! I am going to start backing down on them on Saturday so that by March 1st it won't be as bad. I have tried this in the past, but I think my mistake was I didn't have a time limit for it. So on a stressful day I would automatically go for the soda because I couldn't say "only ___ days before I can have one". What do you think? Will you join me in this challenge or do you have your own challenge to share? If you did the no fries challenge I would love to hear from you and maybe even post what you learned and how you felt at the end. I know some of you are still on it, so stick to it! You will feel so good when you are done!

Best Valentines day yet!

2011-02-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

Yes, you read that right! I am pretty sure that yesterday is going down as one of the best days ever.

It started with a good nights sleep. Followed by a fun play day at our church, lunch with friends, the boys having naps and me cleaning up the kitchen and getting to play Mario on Wii. This year we didn't do anything too special for dinner. But I did make spaghetti. The only part of the day that was stressful was at dinner time. Ian just was not happy and it stressed me out. Justin suggested I go and take a drive. At first I didn't think it was nesacarry, but then decided I would take him up on the offer.

Back to being a good day...I decided to drive to Gigi's cupcakes and get Justin and I a little Vday treat. When I got home I had calmed down and felt much better. Justin got Ian ready for bed and then Owen followed shortly after. During prayer time Ian asked us to pray for Fox News! So funny. I couldn't hold my laughter in, so Justin quickly brought the prayer to an end. :) Once the boys were in bed we decided to do our gifts.

Now I should take a minute to tell you that while my love language is gifts, I think I am especially hard to buy for seeing how I am not a big jewelry person, I am not really foofoo when it comes to most things, so thinking of something to get me I am sure is hard.

In a previous discussion I had told Justin that he could get me cake deocrating classes from Hobby Lobby. Now he very well could have just left it at that and told me to go sign up and have fun. But he didn't! He got me an amazing card that if I do say so was pretty perfect. Inside the card was a homemade coupon good for a cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby! How amazing is he. He really out did himself with the thought he put into the coupon and card.

I sure do love my husband and I love my kids. But I am also reminded of an even greater love story. Can you imagine loving someone so much that you would give your one and only son to save them? I know that I would NEVER give up one of my boys. It would be way to hard, even if it were to save millions upon millions of people. Well God did just this. His son Jesus died on a cross because he loves us. He died so we wouldn't have to. If you want to know more about this love story please ask me or find a Bible and start reading in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Then just go from there!

I hope that you all had a wonderful day yesterday and continue to have a wonderful week. May God bless you in all your relationships!

What is God teaching you?

2011-02-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

It amazes me how God knows just what you need when you need it. For instance, I am doing a Bible study at my church called Wisdom for Mothers. This is the Proverbs 31 study that I have talked about. Anyways, I will be honest, I am not the best at doing the "homework" for these studies. I think that is where my problem is. I think of it as homework rather than time with God. One of my best friends, Misti, who is doing this study as well encouraged me to do the time with God because it was good. So the first week of our study I waited till the last two days before we met again to do all 5 days of my "homework". Not a good idea. You really miss out on what God wants you to hear when you do that. I felt rushed and felt as though I wasn't getting the full picture.

Well week two came along and guess what to my relief we didn't meet due to a major snow storm! I had not done any of my "homework" at that point and since I had extra time, I still did not use the time to catch up as I should have. Well to make a long story longer, our study was canceled a second time because of a second snow storm! What are the odds? I personally think God was trying to teach me something.

So now we are meeting again on Wednesday morning and this time I am prepared! You see my friend Liesl and I have accepted a challenge with each other. 30 days of doing our time with God. No excuses (although the first day I was sick and emotional and used that as an excuse, but as of now...NO EXCUSES)! I love having the accountability with someone who is not in the study. I am not sure why, I just do.

I have really enjoyed having my time with God each night and Justin is able to do his at the same time. I love how the lessons are applying to how I am feeling and just what I need to hear. In fact if I would have done them when I was supposed to it really would have helped my "emotional" excuse out ;)

What is God teaching you? Have you thought about making a challenge for yourself? It doesn't have to be the same as mine, but pray about something God would have you do or not do for 30 days and ask someone to do it with you. You will be surprised at what you are capable of doing or not doing!

FYI - I am on the down hill slope of my 30 days with out french fries! I will be honest, I am looking forward to February 21st! The biggest decision will be where to go. ;)

sweet tooth...

2011-02-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is a little tip for those of you who have a sweet tooth. Don't worry, I am not about to give you a desert that includes fruit. While those are good, they just don't calm my sweet tooth like something that includes chocolate!

Breyers has some yogurt flavors that are amazing as yogurt, but they are even better when frozen. I pretty much like all three flavors, Mint chocolate chip, cherry chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough.

First, freeze them. Second, take them out and run it under warm water. Third, empty into a bowl and enjoy! I also like to add a little chocolate syrup to mine. With out the chocolate syrup it is 4 pointsplus. I hope this helps out with you chocoholics out there. I have one almost every night!

So far so good...

2011-01-27T06:45:00.001-08:00

It is day 5 of my 30 day challenge of not eating french fries and so far I have been able to stick to it! Yesterday was tough because the smell of fries was so yummy, but I resisted. I didn't even get Ian fries and he did just fine. Last night I stopped at Sonic and got the hubs something. His order included onion rings, which smelled so good and I think technically I could have had some, but I resisted. I even told him not to let me have one if I asked for it! When I got home I ate a fiber one muffin and still had some points left over. I decided not to finish my points for yesterday because I wasn't hungry and it was late.

So how are you doing ? Have you accepted a challenge for yourself? I would love to hear about it! Leave a comment and share with me your story or a link to your blog.

On Owen news, he finally rolled over! I was so excited! He is just getting so big and soon will start developing his own little personality. I can't wait!

30 days and a size 18...

2011-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

I can not even tell you how excited I was when I pulled my size 18 jeans up over my thighs and buttoned them and zipped them this week! It was an amazing feeling! I am pretty sure I wore them four days in a row because I was so excited! Then to top things off a friend from church brought me a big bag of clothes! God really knows how to provide.

I have decided to challenge myself to not eat fries for the next 30 days. That means no ordering them AND no snitching them off Justin or Ian's plate. I know I can do this. In fact one summer when I was in high school my mom and I decided to do this for the entire summer. I am going to start ordering either fruit or salad as my side. Or, like tonight, I ordered a jamocha shake from Arby's (only because I had the points for it) and I am very satisfied! The last few days I have ordered a salad with my chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-a. I think this will be a great way to keep me motivated. Do you want to join the challenge with me? Leave me a comment if you want to join with me!

Here are some cute picture, just because I love posting pictures of my cute boys :)

Year of the "what if"...

2011-01-19T06:18:00.001-08:00

It isn't news that I suffer from depression. In fact I am pretty sure I talk about it on my blog on a regular basis. With that being said, I go to see a counselor. Most of the time I go not really knowing what to talk about that day.

Well yesterday was no different. I went in not really knowing what we would talk about. I think counselors must be trained to get things out of you, because she does a good job with getting me to talk. Anyways, we started talking about my weight watchers stuff and she had me do a deal with tapping and repeating what she said. The things she had me repeat really got me thinking and encouraged to go head on with my weight loss.

The things she had me say were "what if" statements. For example: "what if I tracked all my points this year" or "what if I worked out on a regular basis this year" and "what if I made it through this year with out getting pregnant" (ok, that was one I threw in, but you get the idea).

So I have decided this will by my year to loose weight. Because what if I track my points this year? What will happen? I foresee a successful year of weight loss that is what! So who is with me? What is your "what if" statement to get you encouraged this year?

More of my recent crafts...

2011-01-14T07:13:00.000-08:00

Last week on facebook there was a fun little challenge going around for crafty people. I actually do not consider myself crafty. I do love working on crafty things, however I feel I am much too inexperienced at it to call myself crafty.

Anyways, someone started this:

is participating in "Pay It Forward for Creative People": I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment to this update. HERE'S THE CATCH: You must in turn promise to post this and send something you made to the first 5 people who leave a comment to Your update. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011!

I thought it sounded fun, so I re-posted it and started thinking of what I would make those that left comments on it. Here is what I came up with!

This first one is for someone who mentioned she likes to cook. It is a recipe holder! I got the cupcake deal at Hobby Lobby (of course) and then just used Mod Podge on the back to attach a clothes pin to it. I also put a little piece of paper on the back to cover up the excess tag that I couldn't scrape off. I also used a scrap book "sticker" and put it on the front. It says "nothing say lovin' like something from the oven". I think that is my favorite part!

The second two are picture frames with magnets on the back. They work perfectly for your fridge or perhaps a file cabinet at work. These were easy to make. I bought a package of cardboard frames and used Mod Podge to put the scrap book paper on it. Then used scrap book "stickers" to make it stand out a little more (on the first one it says "special little memories" and on the second one it says "blessed").

Can you tell I love Mod Podge? I am pretty sure it is the best thing ever! I am sure I have only begun to see what all Mod Podge can be used for. Have you seen this blog, Mod Podge Rocks? It is such a fun blog to go to. Although you very well may end up spending all day looking at all the fun things.

Some day I hope to be able to call myself crafty. But until that point I am going to enjoy "practicing". It really is a fun thing to do.

The deepness grows...

2011-01-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I realized something. It was something that was hard for me to say out loud and when I prayed about it with Justin I began to cry in a way that I haven't cried in a while. I almost felt a little bit of loss.

What is it that caused such a reaction in my heart? Well I realized that I so desperately wanted a girl of my own that I don't think adoption would fill that hole that is in my heart. By "my own" I mean biological of course.

It tore me up. I mean I have said for a long time that if our next child was a boy that I would want to adopt a girl. But after having such a strong desire to have my own daughter I realized it would not be fair to adopt.

I was also torn up because here I am so blessed by my sweet Ian and Owen and yet I am crying about not having a little girl, while all the time there are people who have not had the experience of holding their sweet baby. I felt so selfish.

The good news in all of this is I have been reading a book series by Lynn Austin called the Chronicles of the Kings. It is really good and I really feel like it is bringing my relationship with Christ to a new level. The way I cried last night while praying was something I haven't felt is a long time, if ever. I longed to cry out to our Yahweh. I wanted to ask him to be my strength rather than to give me strength. I want so desperately to have this deepness continue to grow.

That brings me to another thing. My church is doing a women's Bible study on Proverbs 31! I am so excited and can't wait to start it next week. It was such perfect timing since I have been trying to work on being a Proverbs 31 women.

crafts...

2011-01-05T19:28:00.001-08:00

Crafts, crafts and more crafts! That is actually what I wish I could do all day long. Oh how I dream. Of course my crafts are far from being wonderfully perfect. But I do have fun making them. Here are a few things I have recently made.

This hat was made for my friend Alicia. She wanted the bling, so I gave it to her! Actually she wanted a crown, but for some reason I can't figure out how to get the iron on to actually iron on with out coming apart when I take the top part off. Anyways, I like how it turned out and she seems pleased so all in all it worked out good. Plus, I had a lot of fun making it and purchased a bedazzler like tool to help out with it!

This hat was for one of my bff's Misti. Not so blingy (is that a word?) but fun to make just the same! Doesn't she just look adorable?

I made this frame for my sister in law Stephanie's birthday. This was fun to make too! I also made a frame for my Mother in law and Father in law, however I forgot to take a picture of it before sending it off to Florida :( It was cute though (at least I thought so).

It's a new year!

2011-01-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

Wow can you believe that 2011 is here? I am pretty sure that people say this at the beginning of every year, aren't you?

This year we traveled to the Kansas City area and spent the weekend with our friends Steve and Liesl. We had a great time. I didn't know that that part of Kansas was so pretty. I really just thought of Kansas as all flat land. But this part was very pretty and almost reminded me a little of Colorado.

We found fun places to go and shop and eat. We got some very yummy coffee (well I got a coffee drink, Justin got a caramel hot chocolate) at Caribou Coffee.

The best part of course was being able to hang out with our sweet friends. I miss them, but I am glad that God has put them where they are, even it is stinking cold. ;) Above are a few pictures from our weekend. I hope you all had a great new years like we did!

More post are sure to come this year. I am falling behind on my blogging, but I want to get back into the grove of things.

So much to share, yet only one hand to type with...

2010-12-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

Santa Baby...

2010-12-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Ian at age 3 months (above)
Owen at age 5 months (below)

Merry Christmas...

2010-12-20T05:55:00.001-08:00

from our family to yours!

Pinkitzel...

2010-12-07T19:51:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to a fun new cupcake place in OKC. It is called Pinkitzel. It is so fun and so girly! I really think I could just hang out there for hours, just because of the atmosphere. And the employee that was there the night I went was super nice and totally didn't make fun of my constant picture taking (at least not to my face) :) The cupcakes were good (I am told by my friend who went with me that there are better cupcakes, but they may have less icing) and came with a tower of icing! I love me some icing. I broke out of my usual chocolate on chocolate and got an eggnog flavored cupcake. I liked it, but I will have to say that when Justin pulled out his chocolate truffle cupcake to eat (I brought him home a cupcake) I took a small bite of the icing and YUMMY! Next time I go I will stick to the chocolate! Here are a few (ok, a few thousand) pictures for your enjoyment. I would highly recommend going here for a girls night or date night. Totally fun!

You will be missed...

2010-12-05T18:46:00.001-08:00

Our sweet friend passed away this Sunday morning. It was a very sad story but one that God's glory was fully seen all through out.

He and his wife are so sweet and I just love them as if they were part of our family. It has been neat to see how many lives he impacted. During the last few weeks people have been posting on his facebook page just how much he was used in their life. If I am only half as useful in the Kingdom of God as he was, well I don't know how to finish that statement. Let's just say this man was a true man of faith. He was happy and cheerful even though he knew his time on earth was coming to a close.

I ache for his sweet wife. I could not imagine all that she has been through and will continue to go through. I hope that you will join me in praying for her and her kids.

We will miss you David, but I know you are not reading this in heaven because you are singing praises to our Savior! Sing a song for me and I will see you when I get there.

David was the minister who married Justin and I. I feel so blessed to have had him as part of our special event!

5K and some cookies...

2010-12-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Justin and I did a 5K today! It was so stinking cold at the beginning, but warmed up towards the end. I finished last place with the guy in this picture. He was really sweet and last year at this time he was in the hospital about to die. Now he did a 5K, how awesome is that?!? Justin did it with me and was a good sport about finishing so late. He is my strongest supporter and I love him SO much!

I decided to show you the cookies I decorated. The top picture are only a few of the bad looking ones. The bottom row of the bottom picture are my three favorite. I do hope to master cookies some day, but for now I can at least say they tasted good. I used the royal icing recipe from iambaker. Be warned that by clicking on her blog you may very well spend the rest of your day looking at all her fun recipes and pictures! Here is a link to her blog and here is a link to her icing recipe.

My little helper and more...

2010-12-03T10:51:00.000-08:00

Ian has always been such a good little helper. Even before Owen was born he would want to help us do things. He especially loves picking up trash (or things he thinks is trash but isn't) and throwing it away. Since Owen was born he is really good at helping us throw away diapers! Well today Owen was crying and crying and I couldn't figure out what was going on with him. I changed him, I tried feeding him. Nothing was working. When I went to throw away his diaper Ian picked up the bottle and started feeding him. Instantly Owen started to eat and stopped crying! I would even try to help Ian out and he would say "no, no", he wanted to do it all by himself! I took some pictures. Ian doesn't look too thrilled, but he really was. He was concentrating so hard on feeding and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Yesterday we had our friend Lindsey over for dinner. Her husband works out on an oil rig so he is home for a week or two then off at work for a week or two. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner. Anyways, she came over for pizza and then I went to her house and helped her with some cookies. I told her several times that cookies are not my thing, but she still trusted me enough to roll the cookie dough and cut shapes with the cutters. It was fun doing that and made me want to bake some! I told Justin that and he said something to the effect of "oh so you took a day off from wanting to bake?" He was being silly, but of course it is true. I want to bake everyday. I just love it! Lindsey and I decided it is therapeutic. I also enjoy making people happy when I give it to them. So today at Target I got some Pillsbury sugar cookies with the pictures in the middle (Christmas tree and reindeer) and made them. My friend Misti is planning on coming over and we are going to try to outline the pictures in the middle with icing. Hoping it goes well, if not who cares, they taste yummy! I will post some pictures if they turn out good. :)

This weekend Justin and I are participating in a 5K in downtown OKC! I am excited. It has got both of us walking on the treadmill this week in preparation. I will let you know how that goes too.

Proverbs 31 woman posts...

2010-12-02T07:14:00.000-08:00

I am proud to tell you that I have been doing pretty good with my goal of waking up and making my husband lunch every week day. However, there have been a few days that I have not done it. It is usually because I don't feel good or didn't get a good nights sleep. I hope that some day I won't let that get in the way. Perhaps I can find some things that I can have him take that don't require making (like lunch-able type things, only for grown ups?). Something I am making sure I don't do is allow myself to get down and out because I "failed" at my task. If I do that then it would bring me down and then I really won't be the Proverbs 31 women that I so desire to be.

So any suggestions on what I can have ready for Justin's lunch on days that I am sick or don't sleep well? He doesn't like to take things that have to be heated up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What have you been doing to be a Proverbs 31 women? Stay tuned because soon I am going to have a guest post from one of my good friends, telling us how she is doing at being a Proverbs 31 women. If you would be interested in doing a guest post let me know I would love to post it or link up to your page so people can read about it.

banana...

2010-12-01T08:35:00.000-08:00

You don't own me...

2010-11-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

I love my husband and the way he encourages me with my weight watchers. Just last night I was ready to quit and just go back to my old ways. Well he encouraged me to keep going and to make sure to weigh in today (I usually weigh in on Thursdays, but because of Thanksgiving they were closed this week). So I woke up at 8, jumped in the shower and headed over to my weigh in and meeting.

I honestly though I would gain seeing how I went over my points limit a couple of times this week. But I am so glad that I went because (drum roll please) I lost! 1.6 pounds to be exact. This brings my total weight loss to 13.6 pounds!

I thought it only fitting that I heard this song on my way home. The part that says "I was yours but I'm not yours anymore. You don't own me" Just really hit home because that is what I wanted to say to my weight!

So thankful...picture added

2010-11-25T05:57:00.000-08:00

Wow I can remember it like it was yesterday. In reality it was last year, exactly a year ago today to be exact. Earlier in the week I had told Justin that I wanted to take a pregnancy test and he asked if I could wait till Thursday, so I said okay. Of course first thing in the morning I woke up and took the test! It was clearly positive. What a wonderful way to start out our Thanksgiving day! We decided that we would go around the table at lunch and make people say what they are thankful for and then we would go last and announce the big news. It was so hard to not say anything during the morning. In fact at one point I had to throw up and so that I wouldn't give it away I did it in the front yard. Yuck, I know, but hey nobody even noticed, so I was in the clear! (I hope my mom isn't reading this) :)

Yes I totally took a picture of our positive pregnancy test. Wouldn't you?

Now this year we can celebrate with our two little boys. I am so very thankful for them and for my wonderful husband that God has giving me. I hate to even imagine where I would be in my life if I didn't have Justin.

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

(pictures done by Life Captured By Katy, click here to see her facebook page and become a fan! And contact her now to book a session!)

No girls allowed! (except Mommy)..

2010-11-18T08:40:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any cuter than this, well unless you add Justin to the picture!

It's a girl...

2010-11-15T17:12:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness how I love to shop for girl clothes! There are so many options that boys just don't have. I am pretty sure that my boys would have major issues if I put them in a tutu.

I love that I have friends with little girls. This gives me a reason to shop in the girl section of stores.

For now it is just me and my boys! I even got them shirts today that said "no girls allowed, except mommy". I love it! I am so blessed to have my boys, but maybe some day we will be blessed with a little girl of our own. Here is hoping it isn't anytime soon though. ;)

ugh, blah and again ugh...

2010-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

Today has been one of those days. One of those days where I just want to stay in bed and sleep all day. I hate days like today. I want to be happy, I want to be inspired to get things done and to help others. But that is not how today has played out. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

$500...I know right?

2010-11-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am not one to ever turn down a chance to win $500. I mean really would you? So here we go, all you have to do is go over here to i am mommy and enter a comment! It is that simple and you should also look at her other blog i am baker. I spent the entire evening last night looking at all her wonderful pictures of cakes and cookies that she has made. They are amazing. Now tonight I get to spend the evening looking at her blog i am mommy! I can't wait! You can also earn more entries if you do things like blog about it and tweet about it. Since I don't do twitter I thought I would blog about it!