Valentine's Day And Other Happeneings

"Happy Thanksgiving" is what my son kept saying to me all day! I finally decided not to correct him #1)because it was so cute #2) because it really is a day for giving thanksgiving and love. So, "Happy Thanksgiving" it will be! The day started out by eating "pannie cakes" that said "I love U" and they were served up with a special gift and card. The cute little puppies immediately received their new names (which I am finding out is of great importance) and they played with their musical cards. Boy, whoever thought up those goofy cards is making a killing because my kiddos love them and I know that mine aren't the only ones. This year, I bought ones where I was able to record a message and then it plays the tune. CUTE!!

A couple weeks later I had the privilege of hosting a cabin at our Women's Retreat for the church. This was my 3rd year going and my first year hosting. I really enjoyed this weekend and felt like it was a huge success. The main speaker was the wife of one of our pastors and she was fantastic!! I wanted to share one thing that I took away from that weekend. She had us tear out the shape of a cross from a piece of paper and then hold it up in front of us. Then she told us that we need to see everyone and every circumstance through the cross! That was so powerful to me! I have made it a goal to keep that in my mind and heart as I deal with every day people and situations, especially the difficult ones! If I can just keep that pictures in my mind I am hopeful that it will change my heart and attitude!

Soon after that came some very sad news that has really changed me. One of my dearest friends lost her father to a massive heart attack. I can honestly say that this was my first experience in my adult life where one of my friends has lost a parent to the unexpected. It has been a wake up call for me. Life IS short and fragile. In the blink of an eye it can all change. So, I have made sure to let my parents know exactly how I feel about them EVERY time I call. My friend whose father died told me that she has " no regrets" and that is what I want to be able to say when it's time for my parents to go Home.

Finally, on a lighter note, we offically have another soccer player in the family. My son had his first soccer game last Monday and the big news is HE MADE A GOAL!!!! I has super proud of him! We weren't sure if he would participate because he is so shy around new situations, but boy did he prove us wrong. He didn't even hesitate in running out there and had a huge smile on his face the whole time! On a personal note...if you haven't ever experienced a 4-6 year old soccer game..DO IT! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! They are trying so hard and they are so cute! GO BARONS!!!!!

Facebook Addiction

First of all, I need to apologize to all of you who have been checking in on my blog. I'm sorry!!! I have been very neglectful with it..... I opened up an account on Face Book and have been having such a great time reconnecting with class mates and long lost friends. It is rather addictive and I have to make sure that I limit my time or else I would spend all day on the silly thing looking for people I have lost touch with. Fun, but beware.......

Where have the past 2 1/2 months gone? So much has happened that it would take a short novel to write it all down. Here it all is in a nutshell....Thanksgiving was spent in Great Falls, with my parents and we had a wonderful time with family and friends....a couple of weeks later Dan resigned from his job at REC and then went to work for them as an independent contractor. This is probably our biggest news of recent. We were all set and ready to move to Billings and then the Lord put the brakes on that. We are staying put. It was a very bitter sweet thing. We were so certain that Billings was in our future. We had the house up for sale, 1/3 of our things were already packed up and in storage, we were looking for rentals and houses to buy in Billings and even checking out the schools for our kids. It was very hard for us to tell family that we wouldn't be moving closer to them, and yet I was extremely excited to be staying near all of the dear, dear friends that I have made here and to not be leaving our beloved church family. I am very grateful that God has blessed us with a good job and one that seems to be stable in this very uncertain economy. So, for now we are staying put!

Next was Christmas, and I must say, something very strange happened this Christmas. We decided to celebrate Christmas here in our home this year, and it was really good. For the first time since we've been married, we celebrated Christmas on our own. We started our own little family traditions, we enjoyed being a family and we made the most of it all. My parents had intended to come, but the train stopped running due to the major winter storm(s) that happened. It was disappointing when they finally called and said that they weren't coming. I really had to regroup and make sure that I didn't show this to much because the kids would have picked up on that, and it would have ruined the mood. We celebrated Christmas dinner with the Shaw's and I cooked my very first prime rib. I turned out pretty good. A little bit over cooked but all in all not to bad.
New Year's Eve was spent at a rodeo and we had a "YeeeHawww" blast! It was so much fun and our daughter spent a good part of the evening learning how to rope! That's my little cowgirl.
January has flown by, and I have to say that I am really excited to be tackling some projects that I put on hold. We are redecorating my daughter's room and I have been on the hunt for a newer car.
All in all I am counting my blessings! The Lord is so good!

I finally did it....

Last week I went grocery shopping at Walmart and did a very strange thing...I bought a whole turkey. Why is this a strange thing you might ask? Well, it all started many years ago ( 12 years ago, almost to the day) when I decided to have Thanksgiving supper at our home. Dan and I were living in married student housing at Montana State University in Bozeman. The apartment was, well...small, but it was perfect for a newly wed couple. The kitchen, for example, did have all the appliances (frig, stove, sink) but all were of "smaller" size. So, not having ever even attempted a Thanksgiving meal on my own, I boldly volunteered to cook for Dan and my parents, thinking "How hard can it be?" Everything went very well ..until...I decided to defrost the bird. My how quickly things go wrong! I thought you were supposed to unwrap the turkey and then set it in a sink of cold water. Nope! Don't do that, just in case you were thinking of trying it. So, off to the store for yet another turkey. This time it was mom to the rescue and she showed me how to properly thaw a frozen turkey without giving your guests food poisoning. I though this might come in handy some day. So, the next step is brush melted butter all over it, season it, and then put it in the oven. Sounds simple, and would be simple if you had a normal sized oven. Can you believe the turkey didn't fit in the oven???!!!! Quite honestly I don't remember what we did to make it fit, but eventually it did. In the end the meal turned out pretty good (thanks to my mom) and I haven't attempted a turkey since then.

So, why did I make this spur of the moment decision to buy a turkey? My friend Autumn was talking about how she has never made a turkey, but was going to give it a try for a church Thanksgiving meal. Now, Autumn is a number of years younger than me (and an amazing cook) so I thought, OK, I need to get it together and try this again. She inspired me to give it another go.

On Saturday night, after a very FULL day, including a no show open house, I attempted turkey #3 (remember the first experience involved 2 turkeys!). And guess what... It turned out GREAT! I was so proud of myself! It looked good and it tasted very good! What a treat So, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures just to prove that I really did conquer the bird.

First Piano Recital

Yesterday my daughter had her very first piano recital. She did such a great job and really handled being nervous like a pro. The recital was at the Hearthstone which is an assisted living facility. There were quite a few kids that played and everyone did a great job. The kids were encouraged to dress up so she went as Sharpey from High School Musical. I am thankful that she enjoys piano and I really hope that she sticks with it. She played a piece titled "Hopscotch Halloween".

Weekend Getaway and 3 Goals!!

This past weekend, Dan and I were able to attend a conference in Idaho. I have to admit that it was not quite what I had expected, but never the less, it was still very informative. The conference was entitled "Strategic Perspectives Conference: Intel, Insight and Inspiration". It was hosted by the Koinonia House and we were able to see one of our favorite speakers Chuck Missler. We have been listening to his material for quite a few years now and find most of it very fascinating. We listened to people speak on quite a few different subjects, and all of them were extremely passionate about what they spoke on. My personal favorite speaker at the conference was a pastor from California named Steve Berger. He spoke about the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation. It was such a great message because they were a church that had it all. They were doctrinally sound, morally upright, and were doing great works of service. Sounds like a perfect church, until you see the the grievance that God has against them. They had left their first Love! It was a sobering reminder that you may think that you have it all together spiritually because of what you "look" like, but really matters is your heart! I loved hearing that message. I have never ever thought that I had it all together spiritually, but I often times forget about the heart issue of loving God first because He first loved us! What a great truth.
So, after all was said and done, we both walked away very challenged to seek out answers scripturally as to what was said, especially with the last speaker, who was actually an ex PLO terrorist and had his own personal security guard with him. He was very interesting to listen to.

Our kiddos had a great weekend as well. They stayed with a couple of our good friends ( Thanks again Liz and Pam!). My daughter had her last soccer game of the year, and I was so bummed that I missed it. She scored 3 goals!!!! I was so proud of her!
It's good to be home and getting back to a normal routine again. (Is there really such a thing?)

Tagged....Twice!

I was tagged by my good friend Autumn and then by another good friend Alisa!

Autumn's tag was to post the 4th picture of my 4th folder... and here it is. Renee is about 3 years old and riding Dr. Pepper with Grandpa Jerry leading. This picture was taken in Pony, MT on a beautiful winter day.

Alisa's and Jessica's tag was to post the 6th picture of the 6th folder ... and here it is. This picture was taken 2 summers ago at the end of the year gymnastics party at one of the owners home. The kids are 3 and 6 and are riding our horse True Grit. I think it is especially funny that my daughter is wearing her swimsuit with her healey tennis shoes on and also riding a horse in the same saddle as her brother!

Must be a horse theme or something?

O.K., I tag everyone who is reading this, but specifically I tag Kelly, Erin, Beth, Caryn, and Michele. Have fun ladies!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

At 1:00pm eight years ago today, God gave me the most precious gift, a baby girl! I remember that previous night and morning very well, but the rest of the day, after 1:00 is mostly a blur of amazement and wonder. I still stand in amazement and wonder with this wonderful gift from God.

OK, So I got this idea from another blog and I thought it would be fun to do. Since she turns 8 years old today, I want to list my 8 favorite things about her:

1. I love her kind and generous spirit.

2. She makes good choices when faced with difficult decisions

3. I love her beautiful eyes and hair.

4. Her smile and laugh are wonderful!

5. I love her sensitive spirit.

6. She has great fashion sense!

7. I love that she delights in friendships and family.

8. And most importantly, I love that she loves and honors Jesus!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday RGO, Happy Birthday to you!
Here is a slide show of her party that we had last Friday night at the bowling alley. It was a blast!

The next day her gamma gave her a great present. She opened the bag first, to find one of her own shoes! This was rather perplexing to her until she read the card. The card said that her birthday present was a shoe shopping spree! A little background on that.... A couple of months ago my daughter had a dream and she came running into my room the next morning to tell me about it. She said, "Mom! I had the best dream! I dreamt that we were rich!" and I said, "How did you know we were rich?" and she said "Because I had lots of shoes, just like gamma!". Thus, the shoe shopping spree.

We all drove to Tri Cities that day and she picked out 2 pairs of boots (really cute ones!) and a pair of converse tennis shoes.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! I LOVE YOU!! XXXOOO