Friday, April 1, 2011

Maybe if I Vlog...I'll actually post!

Monday, December 6, 2010

The Great Alaskan Adventure Begins!

Well, we are here in Alaska.  It started snowing about half an hour after we arrived, but it hasn't snowed again since then.  The scenery is breathtaking beautiful.  Mountains covered in snow and so close you can almost reach out and touch them. 

The kids are enjoying playing in the snow.  Colt is really loving it! 

The first day of school started off a little rough. There were a couple vaccinations that they needed that WA didn't require at this point.  They wouldn't let them attend school even for a day without them.  So it was off to downtown to the free clinic for two shots each.  They were NOT happy about that at all.  They ended up back at school about an hour and a half late. 

Colt really enjoyed his day.  He made a new friend, named.....COLTON!  Good thing he decided to go by COLT up here instead of ColtON!!  He liked his teacher and said school was fun.

Emily met some nice girls in class and there is even one who lives on our same street!!!  She said the schedule is different than what she is used to.  Of course it's always hard when you compare something to what you are used to.  I know she will adjust well.

We should get the keys to the house tomorrow.  New carpet will get installed and then we move in on Thursday!! Looking forward to getting into the new home and neighborhood.

We saw our first moose today. It was a cow, so no big antlers to ooooh and awe over. But the kids still thought it was BIG and cool!!

I scoped out the local mall and wal-mart today.  The mall has the BIGGEST forever 21 I've ever seen.  It has a men's section and a kids section.  Cool!

Well, I should go outside and get Colt before he turns into a popsicle!!

I'm using  friends computer to do this post.  My computer won't be here for at least a week.  So...sorry...no pics until then.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Feels like home again

So, for the last 2 months I've been working with high school ministry at church.  It's been SEVERAL years since I've worked with HS students.  As a single gal I worked in the ministry for years and I was aslo a coach at a local HS (my alma mater...Go CHIEFS!)

About 8 months ago I began meeting with a student one on one.  Every Thursday I pick her up from school, we go get a starbucks and we just chat about life and I do my best to encourage her and be a good listening ear.  A few months ago I decided to meet up with her at Wednesday night ministry so I could meet some of her friends. 

I walked away from that night with many thoughts.  Thoughts that I ended up sharing with our youth pastor one evening when we invited him and his wife over for dinner.  I'm a person (for the most part) who is willing to be a part of the solution if I'm going to take issue with something.  So I offered some solutions for my concerns.  Next thing I knew I was heading up a ministry that is trying to get more parents involved in the ministry and I'm there every wednesday night.

I've been making some really great connections with the leaders.  In fact I had a 3 hour lunch with one of the gals the other day!!  They have been so receptive to me and you can see how much they desire to have a more mature christian woman speak into their lives.  It's been awesome!  I've made some connections with a couple students as well and I'm looking forward to where that will lead.

I come home every Wednesday feeling totally energized.  I feel as though I'm "home again."  I've been in a bit of an "emotional lull" for awhile now and it's been neat to see how God is using my service in this minstry and the new relationships I'm forming to feed my soul and lift my spirits.  I'm truly thankful for the path He currently has me on.  He really is the ultimate healer.  Interestingly enough the name of the HS ministry is REFUGE and it has definitely been that for me!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

She's About to Pop Baby Shower

This is the baby shower that I threw for my long-time dear friend Michelle and her sweet baby girl. She's about to pop was a fun theme to work with. Michelle is gluten free...so popcorn is something she can eat with no worries! I tried to incorporate foods that had "POP" in then somehow, someway. Like Soda POP, loliPOPS, POP rocks, POPcorn, etc. I also made one batch of regular cupcakes and one batch of gluten free cupcakes. Both were yummy!

Here is the invitation:


about-to-pop-invitation

Some of the details.....
cupcake toppers


favor bags filled with pop rocks & ring pops


the little signs I made so people knew what they were eating...AND to emphasize the POP factor!


handcrafted fabric and ribbon banner draped in front of the refreshment table



my jazzed up light fixture was a fun addition and really added a POP of color to the room

(ok, looking back I should've ironed the ribbon...but who has the time!!!)


me and my guest of honor


the lollipop topiary that served as the food table centerpiece


pink popcorn balls


the refreshment table


the food table



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Blessings...

Today I hosted a baby shower for one of my dearest friends. The thing I love most about planning and putting together a party like this for someone I love is the ability to show them how much I love and cherish them. And I DO cherish my friend Michelle. I truly desired to honor and bless her today. To honor the mom that she already is, the friend she has always been and the sister in Christ that I have been so very blessed to know and love and to have speak truth into my life. I love her because she is real. I love her because she will tell me what I need to hear and not what I want to hear. I love her because we are different and that often challenges me. I love her family. I love her laugh. I love her faith. I love the unique things about her that make her Michelle...and nobody else. I don't think I know anyone else quite like her.

I can't believe she is having another baby! This one is number FIVE...and her current youngest is 7.5 yrs old. Her youngest are the exact same ages as my kids. Our girls were actually due the same day...but mine decided to cook for nine extra days! I literally watched her daughter be born on my daughter's due date....lets just say it made the next nine days VERY bearable!! LOL!
When she called me to tell me she first asked if I was sitting down. What came out of her mouth next...trust me...I was not expecting! As soon as she said she was pregnant I literally just started laughing. And as I laughed she TRIED to say, "it's not funny!"....while SHE was laughing. I quickly told her I was NOT going to be joining her on this one! I think we giggled for about 30 more minutes on the phone. Well...I may have laughed in the beginning, but now I simply can't wait to meet this little bundle of JOY! Of course I will have to because I can't go to the hospital now that they have all the restrictions thanks to swine flu! But you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be heading over to her house as soon as she brings that sweet baby girl home!

I am so thankful for my friend. I pray that she felt very loved and very blessed today!
Sorry....no pics today...come back later this week. This post is not about my party planning details...it's about WHY the details were important in the first place....to honor and bless the friend I love!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Something to post about

Well....more than a month of no blog posts. One friend who lives out of town emailed me to make sure everything was ok...(and I LOVE her for that!) My dad left me a phone message wondering if I was ever going to post again and then called the next day with an idea of what to post about! Oh dad...I LOVE you!

So, let's see...my dad mentioned something about a kmart commercial that took the Lord's name in vein. I haven't seen it...but it sounds inappropriate to me...and obviously to my dad as well!!

I'm currently sitting at my laptop which has no pictures or images in it to upload and frankly...I'm too lazy to get up and go into my office. But I've been up to a few things lately.

Blog Designing.....here are some links to some of my recent designs:

http://www.frugalcouponliving.com/

http://thriftydecorchick.com/

http://siriouslysweet.com/

http://www.beamsoflightministries.org/

http://kidfriendlymommyapproves.blogspot.com/

http://jkphotographyblog.blogspot.com/

________________________________________

I spent lots of time this fall on the soccer field...well...the sidelines actually. My son played soccer for the first time and he was amazing! It was lots of fun to watch him and the team was really great. All the kids just really had fun and the parents were really great! As the season went on I became more impressed with my son. He's got that natural hustle and go get 'em attitude and he had some skill to back it up! He scored lots of goals! As much fun as he had....he was ready for it to come to an end. The week after it was over he asked if he had to go to soccer practice and I told him "no". He said, "Yay! I don't have to be busy anymore!" I think the main issue was that his practices were on the opposite days as his friends, so they didn't get to play much this fall. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year being fairly mellow. Then it will get crazy in January with CYT for my daughter.

I've also been eagerly awaiting the arrival of a few people to the "neighborhood". One of them is literally my neighbor and the other one just moved 5 minutes away from me...she used to live across town. I stopped by her house today and we chatted for 30 minutes. I'm so glad you moved to the east side Meredith! And LeeAnn...I'm so thrilled to have you as my neighbor. I look forward to some walks for excercise and some morning coffee talks!

That's it for now people!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I'm still here

Still here! promise....just been buried with work. Finally feeling like I can breath again. Promise to post next week....pics from my son's birthday and my nannual girls getaway trip.

what have I been up to?

work.....both kids in school all day....birthday parties.....learning illustrator......learning more about wordpress.....MOMS group......friday night football games......soccer practices.....soccer games......enjoying all the new fall tv shows.........playing with the kitties..............anxiously awaiting my neighbors house to be finished so they can move in and really be my neighbors.....denying the fact that my daughter is a full blown tween.....running......missing family that has moved away......enjoying family that moved to town........LIFE!