New Year Challenge

They are starting up a new wellness challenge on January 3rd if you would like to join. See link for more info and instructions http://youcanbethebestyou.blogspot.com/p/blog.html . I am going to join again because I noticed that it held me accountable and without it I have eaten everything and anything, slacked on the exercise for the whole month of December, didn't set any goals and wasn't reading anything uplifting or spiritual. This is not about losing weight, it is about eating healthy, exercising and living a well balanced life. I loved it and felt MUCH better while doing it.

Let me know if you join, I would love to have company!

Post White Christmas!

We had such a nice Christmas this year here in VA. I was able to make 35-40 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange, Randy's co-workers, friends, family and Christmas Eve (I love to bake so this was a treat for me). Randy was able to take off a couple days to relax at home. We had a nice Christmas party with our friends from church, an amazing Christmas Eve dinner at Barney and Deb's, Christmas dinner at a really nice restaurant and snow on Christmas night and all day the day after Christmas. We got about 9-10 inches of beautiful fluffy white snow. Precious loves running through it but hates walking on ice. :-) We were also showered with such incredible gifts this year and are so grateful for them all. I also got some good news, my sister Cynthia is coming to visit us in January. That is a gift in itself! We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year as much as we are!

Back to School!

I am super excited! Yesterday I went to a community college and enrolled in an English and Biology class for spring 2011! It was funny though because I did have to take a writing class in order to enroll in these classes. The gentleman told me it should take 1/2 hour and if I finish quicker than that, I am probably not doing well. Welp, it took me 1 hour! LOL I got 94 out of 99 which is awesome considering I haven't taken English in a very long time. Surprisingly I ended up testing right into college English. I am going towards an associates, in what I am not sure yet, but I am going to go ahead and work on my general eds. It should take a while to complete my associates degree but when I do we can decide from there if I will move on to complete my bachelor's degree. Randy has always been super supportive and encouraged me to go back to school and get a degree because he knows how badly I have always wanted one but I haven't been able to figure out what to get a degree in. I don't want that to hold me back anymore. Does a college kid fresh out of high school know what they want to do as a career? Don't college kids change their majors while in school? So I finally decided to at least get started! I do know that it will be something in the health field and right now I am working towards a Dietetic Technician but that could change. :-) Maybe my blogs will make a little more sense once I start English too. Ha Ha

Thanksgiving in AZ

This year for Thanksgiving I was given the gift of a trip home to Phoenix, AZ for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately Randy was not able to take any time off work so he didn't get to go and I did miss him (especially during the actual holiday) but I was kept pretty busy. I got in Saturday night and stayed until Friday at midnight. I didn't blog anything about this trip because I wanted to surprise my sisters. It worked! Dad asked Jac if she would stop by his house, I opened the door and she cried because she was so excited (I hope that is what the crying was for...LOL j/k). For Cynthia I was already at Uncle Robb and Aunt Connie's house for Thanksgiving and I met her in the kitchen. She was pretty shocked considering she just spoke to me on the phone in VA. Ha Ha I spent the week baking with Aunt Judy, spent time with Eve and her awesome boyfriend Nathan, hiked my favorite mountain with Eve, saw 4 rainbows on Sunday, went shopping and to lunch with Tom, went to the movies with Jaclyn, got to see Uncle Mack and Aunt Sue before they left to Reno, went to my 2 VERY favorite restaurants, spent lots of quality time with dad and Jaclyn, had 2 Thanksgiving dinners, spent an evening and night with BOTH of my sisters, woke up at 3:30am and did the whole 'Black Friday' with my sisters and family, had an amazing dinner the night I left at Ponchos with Doug, Jac, CJ, dad, Nathan and Eve and just had an amazing, heartfelt time with all our family and friends. We are SO incredibly blessed to have all the friends and family that we do.

And then, as if my week wasn't already so great, my husband picked me up Saturday morning with flowers and Precious. He took care of me all weekend (because I was SO tired) cooking, cleaning, keeping quiet while I was sleeping and pretty much taking care of my every need!

If you would like to see more pictures see link: http://picasaweb.google.com/rally.mars/HappyThanksgiving?authkey=Gv1sRgCMin3rzm5qPmoAE&feat=directlink

Good Reminder

Heavenly Father, Help us remember that the jerk who cut us off in
traffic last night is a single mother who worked nine hours that day and
is rushing home to cook dinner, help with homework, do the laundry and
spend a few precious moments with her children.

Help us to remember that the pierced, tattooed, disinterested young man
who can't make change correctly is a worried 19-year-old college
student, balancing his apprehension over final exams with his fear of
not getting his student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord, that the scary looking bum, begging for money in the
same spot every day ("who really ought to get a job") is a slave to
addictions that we can only imagine in our worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the old couple walking annoyingly slow through
the store aisles and blocking our shopping progress are savoring this
moment, knowing that based on the biopsy report she got back last week,
this will be the last year that they go shopping together.

Heavenly Father, remind us each day That of all the gifts you give us
Lord, the greatest gift is love. It is not enough to share that love
with those we hold dear. Open our hearts not to just those who are close
to us, but to all humanity.

Let us be slow to judge and quick to forgive, show patience, empathy and
love.

Working for God on earth doesn't pay much......but His retirement plan
is out of this world.

Author - unknown

Precious Little Precious

We are so grateful for.....

The way she LOVES to lay on warm laundry or even dirty clothes

How excited she gets when Sonia comes home, she pretty much yelps when she walks in the door (mainly because she gets a treat from Sonia every time she comes home)

She has to lay in the middle of Randy and I even if we are both on our sides together she will lay on top of our hips

How she loves to lick Randy's feet and also our arms and legs if we are sweaty (for some reason Randy's skin is her favorite though)

When I am reading in bed during the day she HAS to lay between my legs

When we are sitting on a chair at the computer she wants to lay in our laps even though it is super uncomfortable

She can hear when I barely pull a banana apart from the bunch and she will coming running because she knows that I will give her some. She loves bananas like her mommy does :-)

She sighs sometimes and it is always at the most fitting times like when we are keeping her awake. We swear she is sighing just like a human does.

She can sit, stay, roll over, spin, up, lay down, shake and give high five (both right and left paws) and my favorite.....give kisses (she will do all of them in less than 10 seconds for a treat) :-)

She is the best dog to take on walks, she walks right along side of you and you barely need to hold a leash. She does sometimes try to chase after school buses for some reason, very strange.

She love us unconditionally, is always excited to see us, needs to be laying on or with us, best cuddler in the world and the cutest dog ever!

Fetching Fall

I am so excited that it is fall, my favorite season of the year! You would think that it would be spring because I love flowers BUT the colors of the leaves are too incredible to compare. In fact, I wanted to get married in fall and Randy wanted to get married in spring and since I am not a patient person we went with spring because it was sooner. :-)

During fall we love to take drives along the Colonial Parkway up to Williamsburg and along Shore Drive in VA Beach. Today we even took Precious for a walk on a beautiful trail in Newport News to enjoy the fall scenery. The only downfall about fall is that it means the cold is coming and I am so dreading it. It seems like the longer I am on the east coast the colder it feels to me. I have become a big baby when it comes to cold weather.

This is a tree out front of our house that is amazing in fall. The leaves are so red that it stands out among all other trees in the neighborhood. Absolutely breathtaking!

Happy Birthday Karen!!!

Today is a very special woman's birthday. I would tell you how old she is turning but you wouldn't believe me and I think she would kick my butt! :-) I am so grateful for her because she makes my dad so very happy and if us girls ever need her she is always there for us.

Happy Birthday Karen! We love you!

Dad in VA

For the rest of dad's visit we pretty much stuck around the house. Sunday we took him to our church. I can not begin to tell you how much that meant to me to be able to share that with him. Our church has played such an important role in our lives this year and to be able to take dad was awesome! He seemed to enjoy it and thought the pastor made some good points. After church we went to get a new garbage disposal for Sonia's kitchen since it had conveniently started leaking last week. :-) Dad and Randy took care of installing it when we got home. For dinner dad made his famous teriyaki marinade and Randy grilled the steaks. Dinner was yummy!

Monday it was just dad, Precious and I during the day. He installed a programmable, digital thermostat for Sonia's house, relaxed for a minute or two, went to Sam's Club and he walked Precious while I walked Daisy (dog in the neighborhood that I walk during the week). When Randy got home from work we met Barney and Deb at Carrabba's and had a wonderful dinner together.

Tuesday we met Randy for lunch at a Chinese buffet, did a little shopping, relaxed a little bit and then made a big roast dinner for Mike and Ashley. I have always wanted to know how to make his teriyaki marinade and large chunks of meat in the oven so why not have him show me while he was here, right?

So that was his visit that seemed to be over way too fast. :-( Oh, and Precious took a day but once she warmed up to him she really liked him. By Tuesday night she was laying in between his legs on the bed like she does with Randy. The funny thing was the night he got here, she was not sure about him at all! If he would try to pull her close to him she would lean the opposite direction. LOL

Dad's First Day in NC

We had such an amazing visit with my dad while he was here! The days seemed to fly by and I was very sad to see him leave but so very grateful for the time he was here. I was also proud of myself for actually taking pictures while he was here. Normally I am terrible at that. :-)

Dad has never been to North Carolina, so on Saturday we took a day trip down to the Outer Banks (Nags Head and Kitty Hawk). First we had lunch at Tortuga's Lie (my very favorite place to have old bay seasoned steamed shrimp). Dad enjoyed having steamed shrimp, a Guinness beer, french fries and watching football all by the beach. After lunch we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial and walked around there for a little while. We also walked on the beach for as long as we could stand since it was a little chilly and dad got to touch the NC beach water. On our way home we drove him through a Brew Thru (drive through beverage store) and also stopped at a Try My Nuts store. Both are a 'must' while in the OBX!

Found one!

I found a negative to losing weight...............

My belts are too big to hold up my pants that are too big!

Looks like I get to go shopping for new belts. Maybe it's not a negative if I get to go shopping. :-) Sorry honey!

Sweetest Surprise!!!!!!!!

Guess who surprised me with a visit all the way from Arizona? MY DAD! How amazing is that?!? My hubby and Sonia did a great job coordinating the visit and keeping it a secret. Sonia told me that her good friend was coming to visit for the weekend so when the doorbell rang, I THOUGHT I was opening the door for Lola. To my surprise, it was my dad! It did take me a minute to process the whole thing but once I did, I gave him a huge hug and of course I cried tears of joy. This was the best surprise ever!!!

Ron Burgundy & Veronica Corningstone

Jaclyn and Doug (right) as Ron Burgundy & Veronica Corningstone (left) from the movie Anchorman

Happy Halloween! :-)

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

Last week Randy and I had snack for our Church Group. We brought pretzel bites, I made a BLT salad and for desert, I made these YUMMY Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies. Our group didn't say much about them but Randy's co-workers, Randy, Sonia, Rachael and I LOVED them! I ended up losing 2 points last week because of them. It definitely helps that they are brownies and have peanut butter in them! Yum! I love me some peanut butter. :-)
Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try (I did use less powdered sugar and more peanut butter) http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/peanut-butter-truffle-brownies/c5c602e4-007b-43e0-aaab-2f9aed89524c?WT.mc_id=taf_recipe_BC
**Caution: they are super sweet so they need to be cut into small squares (although that didn't stop me from eating 2 at a time, LOL)

The little things that mean so much!

Sitting outside of Panera Bread with hubby eating a bagel, drinking a Starbucks coffee and good conversation
Taking a morning walk with hubby and our little Precious on Saturday morning
Driving in mom's BMW for 6 hours on Saturday talking and listening to the radio
Eating a spicy chicken breast from Popeye's :-)
Talking to both of my sisters this weekend for over 1/2 hour
Getting a new shirt every time Sonia goes shopping (yes I am spoiled & I love it!)
Meeting new people at church and talking to friends
The excitement & joy we received from Precious when we got home on Saturday
Relaxing on Sunday and watching the Redskins game with Precious and Randy

Gainesville, VA

This Saturday, Randy and I drove up to Gainesville, VA for his buddy Steve's engagement party. It was a 3 hour drive but who cares when you are driving in your mom's BMW and seeing old college buddies. It was especially nice because Randy was able to see guys that he played baseball with in college and hasn't seen since. It was also nice for me to finally meet them too! Anthony and Liz were there with their new baby Capri, she is so beautiful and they are such amazing parents.

The picture to the right is Randy tempting to feed Steve cake for a little practice. Steve wouldn't go for it. Oh well, he will get to do the real thing with Heather on May 14th, 2011 in Myrtle Beach, SC. We can't wait! It is going to be SO much fun and since it is our wedding anniversary weekend, we are going to stay a couple days at the beautiful resort they are having the wedding at!

For Barney's birthday I got an idea to make him a golf cake since he LOVES golf! So I made a carrot cake, used green food coloring for the icing and coconut flakes (grass), crushed graham crackers for the sand traps and blue sugar crystals for the water. I thought it turned out pretty good and Barney seemed to be pretty surprised by it. Maybe I got some of Aunt Judy's creative genes. :-)

Happy Birthday Barney!

Happy birthday to a wonderful Dad! I think this is the happiest we ever see him, when he is holding Precious, his favorite grand dog. We love you Dad and look forward to spending Sunday with you!

Lesson learned the hard way

NEVER throw away trash while holding a key (especially if it is not your key!)

Here's the story.... I walk a dog for a lady in the neighborhood during the week because she works all day and can't take Daisy (dog) out to relieve herself. So every afternoon I take Daisy out for a walk. Yesterday I decided to throw the trash out before getting Daisy. As I was walking to the trash I thought, you better put the neighbor's key in your pocket cause you don't want to drop it. Well, I should have listened to myself! As I opened the trash and threw the boxes in, I heard the key fall. Woops! I should mention that we have huge trashcans because we live in a condo community. Now if you know me, you know that I will do ANYTHING to not have to touch the trash. So this was a very, very bad situation. I called Randy and he told me to put a magnet at the end of a broom (he is so smart) and try to find it because it isn't our key and we wouldn't want our key lost like that. So I put on gloves, made the contraption as instructed and with the lid falling on my head I still couldn't find it. :-( Luckily Ealena was not upset with me and Daisy only had to hold it until 4:30pm. How mortifying, embarrassing and GROSS!

Gotta see the video below

Please take a look at the video below. It is hilarious! They are all staff members at our church. I told you our church is crazy! :-) We love it though, gets us excited about God and worship!

Stuart Hodges is our Lead Pastor (the one with glasses and spiked hair)
Phil Poteat is the director of worship and production, lead singer in band (bald gentleman)
Rob Shepherd is the director of community groups and students (short dark hair)
Jamey Menser is the logistics manager & ministry specialist (blond)

Step by Step

Step By Step from Waters Edge Church on Vimeo.

Love this pic

This is a picture from May 2005. We were in Baltimore with Barney and Deb. Wow, time flies when you are in love!

You know you are married when...

Date night on Friday night consists of going to Barnes & Noble and Best Buy
There is nothing better than watching a movie in bed on a Saturday night (Iron Man 2 rocks!)
Instead of going out to eat you would rather grill at home (mainly because of the new marinade that we discovered ;-))

We had a great weekend this weekend! Saturday was kind of funky because it did not go according to plan, so Randy was forced to relax a little bit. :-) The message at church on Sunday was recognizing that the only one that needs to be 'proud' of us is God and he is 'proud' of us because we live through Jesus his son. Our church also baptized 50 people this Sunday! It was truly an incredible service and I pretty much cried the entire service. Then Sunday night I grilled outside in the rain (Randy was watching the Redskins beat the Eagles). Randy kind of trusted me with the grill and of course, I burnt a pork chop. :-( He says that he will give me another chance though. Thanks babe!

Ephesians 4:32

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

This is a verse from our study application last week that was very powerful for me. I know I need to work on this one. Sonia kept reminding me of that while we were watching Michael Vick play tonight. :-)

10 lbs in 8 weeks!

I have lost 10 lbs in 8 weeks! Can you believe it! I am super happy and wished I would have done this sooner, but better late than never. :-) With a change of diet, exercise and lots of will power I am striving to lose my belly and tone up my body. Luckily with the wellness challenge that Heidi and I are doing I have no choice but to eat healthy and exercise! I will admit that I do struggle with not being able to eat sweets but 1 time a week. Very hard and to be honest I lose points on that one almost every week. :-(

Quote of the day

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. -Hannah Whitall Smith

Raincoat

It has been raining here in VA since Tuesday so we have been getting lots of use out of Precious's rain jacket. Isn't it cute? It has duck buttons by her tail and ducks on the white part. Too cute! I don't think she likes it as much as we do. Her leg always comes out of the hole and we don't notice until she walks funny. :-)

Comment of the day

Today at lunch Randy said "I need to hurry up and slow down". Is that not a sign of our culture? Especially the corporate world. :-)

Thankful for Tuesday!

Today I am grateful for.....

The power coming back on when it had been off for over 2 hours :-)
All of the rain that we are getting, we are hoping that we will see grass soon
The grilled chicken we had tonight, yummy!
Time at the gym exercising
Time that I have in order to study (got another 96% on test)
A super sweet card that we received from our friends, the Scott family
Radio station K Love, keeps me striving to stay positive
Phone call with Eve (my best friend) last night
All the kisses from my husband because he knows how much I miss home
Precious insisting on sitting in my lap as I sit at our desk (I know she can't be comfortable but she still insists on sleeping in my lap no matter where I am)
Phone call on Skype from our Papa and Dad!

Just ordered this book

Today the message was about maintaining our relationship with God. Our pastor spoke of 4 ways... 1. Read (Bible) 2. Personalize (Bible so it relates to you) 3. Do it 4. Share
I don't know about you but I have never been able to read the bible because it is very overwhelming and hard for me to understand. Well, today my hubby ordered me the book above. Looks fantastic for people like me (bible challenged). I am super excited to get it and can't wait for my year to start! Thank you hubby and THANK YOU GOD! :-)

Last weekend of September

Had another great weekend this weekend starting with Friday night dinner at Carrabba's (compliments of Tom and Eve for bday) with Randy and Sonia. Saturday I went to yoga with Sally (neighbor), lunch and shopping with Sonia and dinner at home with Randy. Today we woke up early and went to the 8:20am church service (would much rather go to a later service but the Redskins game conflicts), got Starbucks (compliments of my dad and Karen for bday), Randy and I rented paddle boats at the Newport News park and had an amazing time together (beautiful day for it!), Redskins play today and tonight I volunteer at church. What a blessed weekend we have had! Thank you God! (Forgot to mention that I fit into a pair of slacks that haven't fit me since 2007 today!) :-)

Oldie but Goodie

This was such an amazing trip to CA with my dad and my sisters, one I will treasure forever!

February 17, 2002

In God we still trust

You have got to watch this......
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=36ddc331db&view=att&th=12b12032cb003ff7&attid=0.1&disp=attd&zw

Another great day so far!

Some of the many things I am so blessed with....

Being able to go to the gym every morning
Money to buy fresh produce at Trader Joe's (love that place!)
Not working right now so I can run errands during the day
The time to complete my lessons (Got a 96% on a test today :-) )
Iced coffee with sugar free french vanilla creamer
Meeting new people at the gym
Cooking dinner for my hubby
Discovering different ways to eat 2 servings of vegetables
The quietness of this house during the day
Studying and having Precious curl up on my lap with such love
Not dreading looking at myself in the mirror
Knowing that I am much healthier and stronger than I was 2 months ago
All the amazing family, friends and relatives that we have

Tonight is the night!

For the season premiere of Modern Family! It is honestly one of my favorite shows. Every character is hilarious and I can totally relate to Claire. Randy thinks I am a lot like her too. Trust me, this show is worth a shot. You will be laughing throughout the whole episode.
So......you know what I will be doing at 9pm tonight! :-)

Wednesdays on ABC 9/8c

Happy Birthday Chad!

I can still remember biting myself and blaming it on Chad, playing G.Ji. Joes, watching Dukes of Hazzard, snooping on the adults while they were in the pool and we were supposed to be napping (Sorry Aunt Marilyn), telling our sisters that our parents were calling them so they would leave us alone (Sorry Heidi, CJ and Jac), playing cops and robbers and getting handcuffed to the bunk bed when Chad lost the key and so many other great childhood memories. We were inseparable as little kids and I chuckle just thinking about the trouble we would cause. :-)
Happy birthday cuz! We love you so much!

Happy Birthday my love!

To this day I have to pinch myself because I can't believe how lucky I am to be married to such an incredible man! There is no man that would ever have as much patience, understanding, support and love that he has for me. I thank God for blessing my life with the most amazing husband. Happy Birthday honey! You are loved and cherished by so many (including Precious). :-)

Mission accomplished

This weekend was very productive considering we completed Sally's (Sonia's neighbors) porch. We worked for a couple hours on Friday and about 6 hours on Saturday. Although we are pretty happy with how his mom's and Sally's porches came out, we will not be going into a screening business anytime soon. LOL Saturday night Sonia bought us all pizza from Little Italy (favorite NY style pizza here) and wings for Randy's birthday. It was ALL so yummy! I swear Little Italy has heavenly pizza but I think we still like this place in Kansas City the best. :-) Today I went to the gym, went to lunch with Sonia, shopped at TjMaxx and then watched the game. Tomorrow Randy has the day off for his birthday so we will get to spend the day together. So even though the weekend isn't over yet, it has been a splendid one so far!

Great Game!

Randy, Mike and Barney went to the Washington Redskins vs. the Houston Texans game today as a birthday present from Barney to both Mike and Randy. They left this morning from Newport News at about 8:30am and got there about 3 hours later. They wanted to get there early enough to tailgate. Barney brought the food (filet mignon steaks!), Randy brought the grill and desserts and Mike brought the games. I can't tell you how excited the 3 of them were to be going and I can't wait to hear all about it when they get home. Unfortunately the score was 27-30 Houston Texans BUT it was a fantastic, on the edge of your seat type of game. Randy sent me this picture before the game started during practice. Aren't they handsome men?

6 Minute Cucumber

I have a funny story but you need to know something first..... With the wellness challenge I am doing I can't eat after 8pm and I have to have 2 servings of vegetables each day. Well tonight Randy and I were working on re-screening our neighbor's porch and didn't get into the house until 7:51pm. The problem was that we hadn't had dinner yet and I hadn't had my 2nd serving of vegetables. That meant that not only did I have 9 minutes left to eat dinner, I had to eat my 2nd portion of vegetables in order to get my points for the day. I then realized that I only had time to prepare and eat my 2nd serving of vegetables. With cucumbers being one of my favorite vegetables, I started peeling, chopping and eating. Six minutes later I completed the whole cucumber, had a full belly and I don't think that cucumbers are one of my favorite vegetables anymore. LOL :-)

Another great quote

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her ...a bit of crap, be ready to receive a ton of s**t." Author - unknown

Love this!

I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter... the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes .. love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal and I was angry. "God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?"
God was silent for a moment and then spoke softly and said, "I have created you." > Jim Willis 1999

On this "hump day" Wednesday I am grateful for....

The cool breeze this morning and evening while walking Precious
Catching up and laughing with my cousin Heidi on Skype
The morning kisses that I got from my husband Randy while he was getting ready for work
My husband bringing me up when I was feeling down

Precious laying on top of the warm laundry making it nice and wrinkled (so cute)
A nice quiet dinner at home with Randy
Watching a "chick flick" with Randy even though he said he wasn't going to watch (Back Up Plan, was pretty cute)
Being able to cook lunch and dinner (I love to cook)
Shopping for Randy's birthday gifts (his bday is the 20th)
Browsing through TjMaxx, I swear I could spends hours upon hours in there
My willpower, I got 10 points today for the wellness challenge

The fact that I get to sleep tonight next to an amazing man and the sweetest dog!

Love a Pug

2 years ago Randy and I went to look at a pug in a run down neighborhood for $100. We had no idea what we were in for. When the skinny little thing looked up at us with her big brown eyes and her cute little under bite, we were in love. Precious has not only changed our finances :-), she has changed our lives forever! There is no love like the unconditional love that she gives. She is always happy to see us, ALWAYS wants to lay in our laps, loves to lick Randy's feet and always makes us laugh. She has been a true blessing! We love you Precious the pug!

Am I not supposed to be up here?

Wonderful weekend!

In July, Randy and I re-screened Sonia's porch and re-stained all the trim. Since we did such a great job, her neighbor asked us to do hers. :-) Humble, huh? So this weekend was our weekend to complete this project. On Saturday we were able to complete replacing all the screens and OH MY GOSH was the weather amazing (much nicer than July)! We had planned on replacing all of the trim first thing Sunday morning. Unfortunately, when we work up at 6:30am we realized that it was raining and according to the forecast it would be raining all day. Since we were already up we decided to go to the 8:20am church service. They hired a new singer for the new campus they will be opening in 2011 and he sang a couple of the songs. He is incredible! The message was reminding us that we don't have to strive to be perfect and to follow all of the rules (10 commandments), Jesus has already died for our sins. That is the short of it but it was very powerful of course. After church Randy and I relaxed and then I volunteered at the church at 6:00pm and met lots of new volunteers. The rain ended up as a blessing to give Randy a chance to relax. I hate to have him work all week and then all weekend. Luckily the screens are on so all we have to do is the trim. Next weekend is Randy's birthday, I can't wait and I don't think he can either considering he is going to the Redskins game on Sunday. Woops, forgot to mention that the Redskins beat the Cowboys last night! Woo Hoo!

Crazy for church!

In January, Randy and I started going to a new church named Waters Edge Church a little unsure of what to expect. The reason we were unsure is because we attended this church a year before to try it out. When we went the first time, we walked out of there saying no way! This church had a rock christian band with a concert type setting and a little spiky haired, jean wearing pastor that would say things just for shock value. With Randy raised Pentecostal and me raised Catholic, this was a bit much to say the least. So we continued looking for a church and eventually stopped looking. When we flipped the calendar to 2010 we decided that we really need to find a church and quit putting it off. By this time Waters Edge Church had built a church right by our apartment so we decided to give it another shot. Wow, are we glad that we did! The message was extremely powerful and we actually understood and related to it. I got to thinking, all the years that I had attended church off and on, I never understood what the message was and I certainly couldn't relate to it. With WEC, the Pastor speaks for about 30-40 minutes and we can ALWAYS understand the message and relate to it. It is always like God is speaking through him to us. This church strives to change the way people think about church. We have learned that it is more about the relationship we have with God not the religion we practice. We have even joined what they call a community group which is 14 of us that meet every Tuesday night. I also started volunteering at the church 2 Sundays a month. I can't begin to tell you how much we love this church, the Pastor, the members, our community group and God! We look forward to going to church on Sundays and community group on Tuesdays. Finding this church was such a blessing and we wish we could share it with everyone!
http://www.watersedgechurch.net

The Challenge

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was doing a wellness challenge. My cousin Heidi did the challenge last time and is also doing this one. It is a 12 week online challenge that focuses on mind, body and spirit. So far I have gotten all my points for the week but it just started on Monday. :-) I am ok with everything BUT the sweets! Argh!!! I like to treat myself a little once in a while but this challenge only allows me to have sweet treats one day a week! :-( I guess that is why they call it a challenge, huh? If interested in reading more, see link http://youcanbethebestyou.blogspot.com . See below for the 10 things that need to be done in order to get points. There are a total of 10 possible points per day. Wish us luck!

Points

1. Drink 48 ounces of water a day
2. 45 minutes of exercise (doesn't have to be consecutive)
3. No soda or alcohol
4. No sweets (desserts, pastries, candy, or sugary snacks) Sugar-free alternatives are okay
5. No fast food, or unhealthy snacks (chips)
6. Consume 2 servings of fruits and 2 servings of vegetables
7. No eating after 8p.m.
8. Read 15 minutes of spiritual or uplifting text
9. Write in your journal (Daily blogs count, too.) Express specific appreciation, love, or praise in your journal...a goal of two or three items is a good goal!
10. Personal goal- each week make a personal goal for everyday or make a goal for the entire week. ( Like reading more to the kids, organize a closet, get 8 hours of sleep, etc...)

ONE FREE POINT PER AREA, PER WEEK..for example: only one day with sweets a week, only one day without exercise, one late night snack per week........or one whole day free.

Beautiful flowers from a BEAUTIFUL man!!!

Randy, my awesome husband surprised me with this beautiful bouquet of flowers for my birthday. He really wanted to get me a bouquet with cosmos in it so he called around and ending up ordering the flowers from the same florist that did our wedding flowers. The cosmos are the little chocolate brown flowers and had to be special ordered. The reason he wanted cosmos was because they are the 2nd wedding anniversary flowers. How sweet is that! I still feel like the luckiest woman in the world to have him as my husband. :-) Thanks honey!

Halfway there

Just over a month ago I decided to lose about 13 pounds. So what does my wonderful, supportive husband do? He takes me to the gym to sign up for a membership. Honestly I don't think he thought I would actually use it. LOL Well, he was wrong! Sorry honey! :-) I am at the gym about 5 days out of the week. I have also cut my calories by limiting soda, alcohol, sweets, white flour, fried food, fast food and any other good thing you can think of. Ha Ha I have been eating more protein shakes, whole grain, fruits, veggies, peanut butter, lean meats, green tea and lots of water. Now I do treat myself a little bit on the weekends and sometimes I'll have a little treat during the week but I have really been trying to limit my calories and eat healthier.

Great news is that this has all been paying off! I have lost almost 7 lbs as of last Saturday. I am only allowed to weigh myself on Saturday mornings so I don't drive myself crazy. :-) My clothes are fitting a little better, I bought a size smaller than normal in jeans yesterday and I feel great! I am actually lighter than I was on our wedding day. I do still have 7 more pounds to go but I know I can do it. I am super blessed to have such a supportive husband and mother-n-law!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy birthday to a wonderful brother and brother-n-law! We are so lucky to be able to call you our brother. We hope you have a day as special as you are! We love you!

Grateful for Grammie!

Words can not describe how special our Grammie was and still is. I will always remember my summers at Grammie and Papa's house, riding our bikes around the yard, swimming, going to church, playing with Tanya, eating watermelon and corn, using Grammie's heating pad while watching Wheel of Fortune with Papa, tempting to help Grammie with her many crafts, walking down Main Street during their sidewalk sales, visits to Gove, washing dishes :-) and so many more wonderful memories. I can only hope to be 1/2 the woman Grammie was. She is the most genuine, kind and loving woman I know. She has instilled such good values into all of the family and that is one of the many reasons that she will always and forever live on. She may be with the Lord but I almost feel her presense even stronger now than when she was here on earth. She is with me always, watching over me and all who she loves so much. We miss you Grammie and love you forever!

An Amazing Birthday!

Ok, so I know I am terrible when it comes to posting anything in our blog. This will all change. I have started a wellness challenge called The Best You which will last for 12 weeks. One of the things that I need to do for the day (there are 10) is to write in a journal or blog. I figure why not kill two birds with one stone! So here I go!

This weekend was my birthday and it was awesome! I received lots of phone calls, emails, gift cards, gifts, a beautiful bouquet of flowers and love. One of the gift cards we received was to Bonefish a yummy restaurant here in NN so Randy and I had date night on Saturday night. Luckily it didn't turn out like the movie Date Night! LOL :-) So anyways, we went to dinner at Bonefish, ate dessert at the Melting Pot (fondue restaurant) and then took a little walk. It was so wonderful for us to be able to enjoy a date night like that. Thanks Tom and Eve!

For my actual birthday Sonia, Precious, Randy and I went to VB for the day. We met Mike and Ashley and went to the beach. Holy cow, the weather was amazing! I could have stayed out there all day. In fact, God blessed us with amazing weather ALL weekend! Once we were done at the beach we went back to Barney and Deb's and Deb made a yummy dinner. We had BBQ baby back ribs and pasta weesie (one of my favorite dishes from Carrabbas). Oh my gosh it was all so good and to top it off we had ice cream cake! Thanks Deb for all the super good food you made and bought for us! Randy and I are truly blessed with such incredible families and friends.