Easter and Spring Decorations :)

I really needed some spring pick-me-ups around the house, so I dug out some old Spring/Easter decorations and then went out shopping with my mom this weekend and to find some new decorations! I had some serious issues finding anything that I liked which made me really frustrated, but I got a couple of cute things. Most of the normal home interior stores that I get serious sales at only had a small section of Easter decorations and most of the decorations were either glittery and pink or country (both of which do not go with my interior!). Pier 1 had some cute egg wreaths and egg trees (which were two things on my list of things to shop for) but the prices were way too steep! I'll have to go back the day after Easter to get them on sale! Anyway...here are some pictures!

I found this cute wreath at Target! I couldn't believe how picked over everything was and it was still 2 weeks until Easter! But I liked this wreath and I think it stands out nicely against the front door!


This is a sign that my mom gave me a couple years ago for Easter...grown-up kids can still get Easter baskets! :) Anyway, I think it's cute. You can't see in this picture, but my kitchen is a bright green, so this sign matches perfectly and it stands out nicely against the black stove. Yeah, I don't use all of my burners that often! :) hehe

My mom also gave me this flower decoration. Last year I put it on the kitchen table because again, the green in it matches my kitchen, but this year I liked it by the front door. I think it brightens up the brown walls! My normal spring hydrangea arrangement can come later in the summer this year!

I guess I've kept most of my decorations around the kitchen...probably because that is the main hub of the house. This flower plant is fake and it looks so real! My mom got it at Lily's on the Lake in Ohio. (They have some really cute stuff - hopefully I can stop by there on my trip back home this weekend) My mom got one for herself a couple weeks ago and had to go back to the store to get me one! Good thing my mom and I have similar decorating taste! Thanks mom! The giant egg came from Hobby Lobby for $2 and seriously, who doesn't need a giant egg?

And my egg nest gets it own picture! Are these not the cutest salt and pepper shakers that you have ever seen? I'm not big into theme salt and pepper shakers, but I saw these and HAD to have them! They aren't glittery or country! Yay! I found them at Target for $8 and thought that the happiness they would bring to the kitchen made them well worth it! After my mom saw mine on the counter, she HAD to have one too, so I went on back to Target to pick one up for her...it's the least I can do right? Give back the decorating love? This nest also reminded me of my blog friend Shannon who is all about nests! :)

And last but certainly not least, are these beautiful flowers that Jonathan brought me the other day! Isn't he sweet? It's always nice to have fresh flowers to remind us of spring, even if it is cold, rainy, and windy outside:) Thanks honey! I love them!
I'm definitely working on building up my spring decorating collection piece by piece each year. Hopefully since I never found an egg tree that I liked, I'll be able to find one discounted after Easter and have it ready to go for next year. And who knows? Maybe I'll spread my decorating love to the living room next year:) Thinking of a new coffee table spring decoration was just too overwhelming this year! :P

Stud Muffin Date!!!!

I know it's been a couple days since I have posted...I've been way too busy! First of all lets start with some exciting news! On Wednesday Jonathan got a phone call asking him for an in-person interview for the job! YAY! They told him that he would probably hear by Friday, so we were quite surprised when he got a call 2 days early. This means that he has narrowed the applicants from 42 to 12 and now he is one of 5! Next week is spring break for the schools in this area so the person interviewing him will be on vacation, so we have to wait until a week from Monday for his interview! In the mean time, the person that J is temping for is supposed to be coming back from medical leave. I think God likes to leave things to His timing so that we aren't comfortable and need to look to Him. I know He has a plan and I have to trust in Him.

My parents were on spring break this week so they came to visit us for the weekend. My mom and I had some good shopping time:) We found some fun spring and Easter decorations for the house. I'll have to post pics later. But since we already had our Stud Muffin date planned on Friday they told us they would doggie sit for us so that we wouldn't have to spend money on the doggie resort!

I wanted to get dressed up since we never get to go out on a date like this. I never wear skirts or dresses so I had nothing to wear! I bought a purple skirt the day after Thanksgiving from Loft for $3 and thought that for the price I had to get it! So my mom and I went to the mall in search of a shirt and jewelry to go with the purple skirt. We found some exciting deals at Limited! The back half of the store was on clearance! We had our arms full of hangers and I liked everything I tried on! Oops! Anyway, I found a cute shirt for $15 to go with the skirt and some flashy black earrings at Macy's for $5! Then I found a way cute "statement" ring at Pier 1 for $6!! (J hates statement rings.) Why do I get a high from sale shopping?? I'll post a pic of the ring because you all have to see how cute it is. Please overlook my nails - they are naked! I'm so embarassed. I ran out of time to do them! oops! And, that is not my comforter...it's the one in the hotel. (Not really my style:)

The limo picked us up from the house. Unfortunately it was raining, I had wanted to get more fun pictures of the limo. The only time J and I have been in a limo together was our wedding! and all 10 extra people squeezed in from our wedding party made it not so romantic:). Here's a pic of us leaving for our date!

The limo driver holding the umbrella is actually the owner of the company that donated the limo to the church for the prize! He was a really nice guy and come to find out, Jonathan and he had worked together back in the day at Best Buy! Such a small world! BTW - Try to look past the white legs and the scrapes that are still on my legs from my trail run! :)

Here are some fun pics I took in the limo:)

We went to dinner at Malone's which is one of Lexington's best steak houses! (The owner there also donated the gift card to the church for this prize.) We had reservations and walked straight in with no wait (which is unheard of there on a Friday night)! We decided to treat ourselves since we don't usually have the opportunity to eat there. We got a bottle of wine, an appetizer of Coconut Shrimp, we each got steak (of course I got fillet Mignon) and they were done to perfection! And last but not least we had an amazing chocolate dessert! Wow. Pretty much had to roll me back out to the limo! (I didn't have an evening bag to match and didn't think my giraffe bag would be acceptable, so needless to say I have no pics of the food.)

Then we went to the hotel. We were booked at a Homewood Suites by Hilton. Again, the owner here had donated a room for the prize! Wow, a lot of giving people at our church, huh? Anyway, the hotel was so nice. We actually had a living room and kitchen attached to the bedroom! Here are some pics! We tried another limo picture since it was under an overhang and out of the rain.

Yes, we had a fireplace and no it didn't work. I'm sure it was turned off for the spring/summer season not realizing that we would have wintry conditions this weekend!
We were excited about the free popcorn! How many hotel rooms do you get free popcorn to make in a microwave! :)The next morning we got a free buffet breakfast too! Wow, what a wonderful weekend of events! We had such a good time!

Oh My Trails!!

Today I went on my first trail run with Billie, Lindsy, Chelsea, and Courtney. I should have known not to run with 4 girls who have been training for a 7 mile trail run and half marathon for the past 6 months! Plus, we are in Kentucky so our hills are mighty hilly! That said from a northern girl! I'm dumb and they all assured me that they were just doing a small run and it would be slow and easy. HA! Right! Maybe for them!

First of all, I should start with the small fact that I'm a girly girl. I was never the kind of kid that played in trees or got dirty. I don't mind sweat, but dirt and getting scraped by trees and all that isn't my thing. So we started this trail run and we were on a nice dirt path and it was fun. The path was narrow enough that we were single file. Then we started running through brush. Over streams. Ducking under trees. We literally climbed OVER a tree that was laying on its side that was almost as tall as me. OK, maybe not that tall:) but you get the idea.

I was okay until we got to a hill that looked like a mountain! I made it to the top and was out of steam. The problem was that we were only 1 mile into the run. I was able to keep the girls in my sight, but I felt guilty for slowing them down. I realized that if I lost them that there was NO WAY I could find my way back to my car! So I pressed on towards the goal out of sheer necessity, although I didn't know how far away the goal was.

After 45 minutes and about 4.25 miles we finally finished!!! YAY!!! Well, some of the girls kept going, but I called it a run when we got back around to the cars. My feet were burning. For any runners out there who know the benefits of Body Glide, I had slathered mine on my feet and I still got blisters on my arches! 13 flesh wounds, 2 blisters, and a huge bruise later I finished my first trail run! Yes, I did count all of the scrapes on my arms and legs! At least only a couple of them sting. (Is my skin super thin or something that I got so scraped up?) I look like an old lady walking around between my feet issues and the fact that every single muscle in my legs, back, and sides are screaming at me! I can't even imagine how I will feel tomorrow!

Girls, I don't hate you...I'm still talking to you:) but it might be a while until I try one of those runs again! I think I'll stick to pavement for a while, but thanks for the adventure.

Phone Interview Follow-up

Today was the day for Jonathan's phone interview. I got a call around 9:45 this morning from him saying that the people interviewing him had called him and asked him to come to the interview in person! The interview was at 10! Of course this makes way more sense than a phone interview since the people interviewing him were right down the hall! Luckily he had a resume with him, but he wasn't dressed in a suit for an interview (which was what he was worried about).

The interview went well. He felt that he had good answers to their questions. They told him that there were over 40 applicants for this job! They chose the top 12 for the phone interviews and will then choose the top 5 for in-person interviews. Even though his interview today was in person, it was still considered a phone interview in the sense of which round he's in. So, we are back on the roller coaster of emotions. We are playing the waiting game to see if he gets a call back for another interview. He should hear something by Friday! I know it is God's ultimate plan and His Will will be done, but patience is very difficult for me!

I also have a prayer request today. This really makes our job issues seem insignificant. One of my best friend's brother-in-law died today. It was sudden and he left behind a wife and a 10 month old baby boy. Please pray for their family. I cannot imagine the grief that they must be feeling right now.

The Weekend and a Possible Job...

Our weekend has been jam-packed with stuff! We were blessed with beautiful weather both on Saturday and Sunday. It was blue skies and sunshine but still a little cool.

On Saturday Billie and I went to the salon to get our hair cut. Don't you love the feeling of getting your hair cut? Makes you feel like a whole new person! :) I actually got a few inches cut off, so I feel like I look like a whole new person (although it's not that big of a change:)). We go to a girl that Lindsy introduced me to. She is a great hairdresser! She would HAVE to be for me to fight the mall traffic every time I see her! Yes, she works at a mall salon. HATE IT, but love her. So what is a girl to do? Well, usually we take the opportunity to shop around the mall afterwards (although it doesn't look too good after you've had your eyebrows done and your face is all red!) but yesterday we had too much stuff to do to take time to shop. And shopping takes money:) Later that night Billie and Derek came over for some Mancino's and sewing. Derek wasn't there for the sewing. hehe. D and J watched high school basketball while Billie and I cut fabric. It's nice to spend a relaxing night with friends!

After church today we went to B and D's house for lunch. Derek grilled BBQ chicken! Yum! Spring is here!! :) Then the four of us went to the park and played volleyball to get ready for the competitive season starting in a few short weeks. It was so wonderful to play outside on such a beautiful day! It reminded me of being in college when life was just about playing around without any real responsibilities. Anyway, it was fun and I'm sure we will go back soon!

I guess I was a little crazy because I felt so energized by playing volleyball that I decided to change into my running gear when I got home. So I ran a little over 3 miles and am now extremely exhausted! But I feel good! :) While I was running, J cleaned the house and switched out our sheets and comforter to our summer sheets and coverlet! Aren't I blessed with a wonderful man? He's so good to me!

Then Billie came back over to the house for some more sewing! I think tomorrow night we will be able to finish the bags that we started for the auction weekend! YAY! And they are turning out really cute! I'll post pics when they're done!

Last, but definitely not least is some info on Jonathan's job hunt. If you remember, he's been temping at UK in the accounting department for someone who is out on leave. Well, a really good position came open in another part of the accounting department and his boss told him that he should post for it and actually asked him for a resume to give to the hiring manager. When the position showed up online, he posted for it and he got a call back on Thursday! He has a phone interview tomorrow morning at 10AM. Please be praying! I know God will open doors if it is His will. The funny part of the interview is that the people interviewing him work down the HALL from him and still wanted to do a phone interview. haha! Office politics! I'll update when I know any more info! Thanks for your prayers!

Spring has Sprung!

It has been in the 70's for the past two days! A little sunshine does wonders for the soul! And my flowers are starting to bloom!!!

Yesterday I still had the sniffles, so i didn't get to enjoy the beautiful weather. So, tonight when we got home from work Jonathan fired up the grill. The grill is one of our favorite things about warm weather! J grilled some steaks (that were very yummy) and i fixed some sides and we hurried through eating so we could get outside for a walk! We had Bible study tonight so we had limited time before we had to leave. But we had to take Dakota to play in the sunshine! AND I wore flip-flops! yay!

"Take me for a walk, mommy and daddy! I've been a good boy!"

This is Coda after a long walk. I think he stopped by every single tree in the neighborhood. He doesn't just walk...he sprints in a zig-zag in front of us. He had so much fun on his walk! He'll sleep well tonight! Look at that cute little tongue. Doesn't he look happy?The weatherman told us that today is the last day for this wonderful weather. Back to rain tomorrow:( We studied Philippians 4:4-9 tonight at Bible study. It talks about not being anxious about anything and to rejoice in the Lord in every circumstance. That is a constant reminder that I need to tell myself daily. Rejoice in the Lord in the rainy days or in the sunny days. Rejoice in the Lord in the days that we hear nothing on the job-front. Rejoice in the Lord when I have the sniffles and when my hubby brings me flowers! God has been good to us.

Rooster...Seriously?!

Jonathan told me that I have to blog about our most recent annoyance, so here it goes. Lets start with the fact that we live in a newer subdivision in the city. Now, Lexington has many farms throughout the city. I mean, you can see horses grazing on your way to the mall. It's part of the reason this city is so beautiful with the rolling green hills and makes us different from other cities. BUT, we live in a subdivision nowhere near a farm. And so the story begins...

A month or so ago, Jonathan kept complaining of being woken up every morning at 6am or earlier by a rooster. He's a light sleeper so I just brushed it off and said he was hearing things. In the last couple weeks we'd be sitting in on the couch and he'd say, "did you hear that?" Well, it got to be a joke because I never heard a thing! And I told him that no one would have a rooster in a subdivision!

Sunday we came home from church and were walking into the house when Jonathan said "did you hear that?" So, I stood in the garage and listened and sure enough I heard a rooster over and over and over again. Jonathan said he was going to find it. He ran inside and got the camera because he wanted proof that there is a rooster!

This is the view from our driveway. Look closely!This picture is a close up! What in the world??? A rooster perched up on the fence?? That tall structure with the blue on it is a chicken coop! J got close enough to hear the clucking!

Here is another close-up of the little devil!

Luckily the rooster got a little confused with daylight savings time so he hasn't been crowing so early each morning. But each day he gets a little earlier and earlier. Not that the morning issues bother me, but if they bother J, I'm sure other neighbors are upset too!

We tried to contact our HOA and they told us that they aren't our HOA anymore! Where did our dues go to? We have no clue how to find out who our HOA is managed by. I'm sure having a rooster and a chicken coop is against the Home Owners Association's Rules! Someone needs to do something.

And just to show that I don't HATE roosters, here is a pic of the top of my fridge. When we moved in, I needed something to take up the space and I found this metal rooster and just had to have it because it was too funny and made me laugh because it's soo not "me". J hates the live one and the metal one! :)

A Day of Sewing

Billie and I spent the afternoon and evening sewing some bags to take to the auction for display in a couple weeks. We have two more bags that we want to have done next weekend. We tried some new combos and fabrics that turned out really cute! So...I have to post them!

This bag we added the polka-dot ribbon instead of just plain ribbon to give it a little extra personality. Isn't it cute??

This fabric we had from Amy Butler's summer line last year. We hadn't used it on any bags yet, but we saw how cute it looked with this blue ribbon and just HAD to do it!
These next two are bags in our new line of Sassy Bags. Bags for kids or just the kid at heart! How cute are these Michael Miller Prints?

After we finished these bags we organized all of our sewing stuff into the bins that we got last weekend. Now all of our fabrics are organized! Yay! My OC self is happy. Now my issue is finding somewhere to store all of the bins! I guess my next project is to clean out the closet in the office so it can hold all of our organization! My dining room will look so empty! :)

**After looking at all of these pics, I feel that I need to make the disclaimer that we have other colors of ribbon than just blue! :) I guess that it was a blue kinda day today! hehe.

Shamrock Shuffle 3K

This rainy cold morning Billie, Tasha, Nevada and I braved the elements to run in the Shamrock Shuffle 3K! Lindsy was out of town:(. We missed you girl! It was Tasha's and Nevada's first race ever so it was a big deal! Last year, this was my first race to run ever. Its a good length (1.8 miles). Once you run one race it gets addicting and you want to run in more and more races. I can't even remember how many 5K races Billie and I ran last year. I can remember that we ran 2 10K's because those were a big deal to me:) I'm not a big distance runner! Anyway, all of our hubbies came along with Nevada's cute baby to cheer us on. They got a couple pictures of us too!

This picture was before we ran the race. We have learned from past experience that the "after" picture from races isn't so pretty, so we decided we needed a pic before.
Here is Billie crossing the finish line! The boys were cheering for us when we crossed! Notice the time on the clock! It was chipped timing which means that our chips get activated when we cross the start line and keep our time until the finish line. We were at the back of the pack before we started so it was a couple minutes into the clock before we actually crossed the start line. (There were almost 1,000 people in the race.) That means that Billie finished a couple minutes under what the clock says! Great job, Billie!
Here I am crossing the finish line. I was almost 1.5 minutes after Billie. She ran back down the road and found me and sprinted with me through the last stretch! Love ya girl!
Billie and I walked back down the street to cheer on Tasha and Nevada across the finish line. Unfortunately we couldn't find Nevada in all of the runners! But both girls said they had tons of fun and ran the entire race without any walking! Good job, girls!

And just because we have to...we took an after picture of us. Although this is after we've gone inside and had coffee and warmed up so it isn't quite as bad as some "after" pictures!
I totally forgot to get a picture of all of us including our hubbies! Oh no! All in all we had a great time. The rain didn't scare us! We're hardcore! :) When our official chip times get posted on the website, I'll have to update! This is my official opening for running season! Yay! Can't wait for all of the many more races this spring and summer!

**Edited to add official times:

Finally Some Reality TV!

Not that anyone cares what I think of these reality shows, but I finally got around to watching this weeks Biggest Loser and DWTS. I still have Celebrity Apprentice (I'm not sure if I'm going to like the celebrities this year) and America's Next Top Model (ANTM) from the past TWO weeks! I'm just getting so behind! Maybe I can try to catch up on everything this weekend.

First of all...BL. I'm always about the black team. I like Bob and all, but every season I'm always cheering for Jillian's team. Black team always wins everything. I was so disappointed to see that they all fell for the food and drinks during the luxury reward. But I was equally upset that Simone and Filipe went off on Jillian and blamed her for their lack of weight loss. (More Filipe than Simone.) When blue team lost the weigh in I figured they would get rid of Ron. He doesn't lose much and he's not a strong person in their little competitions. But no, they get rid of one of the stronger girls! What the heck? Last week, they got rid of Dane who was the strongest guy on their team and then wondered why they can never win anything! It's too early to start voting off the strong players! It just gets me riled up!

DWTS...I'm pretty excited for this season. There are some fun celebrities that will keep things interesting. I couldn't believe Steve-o is on it! Are you serious? He was a hot mess. The Apple guy was annoying and I was surprised to know that Jewel's hubby was so country! But I loved Shawn and Melissa. And I'm excited that Chelsie Hightower is a professional on the show. I loved her on "So You Think You Can Dance". Which reminds me...where has that show been? It obviously uncovered talent since Lacey Schwimmer and Chelsie were both originally on that show.

Oh yeah, and Idol...What's up with the blond tattoo girl who has those horrible dance moves?? She's pretty but I can barely stand to watch her! She has an okay voice, but I definitely thought that Jasmine had a better voice. I can't complain though, because I wasn't able to vote this past week. Next week my vote will count!

OK, I got my shallow post out for the week! Gotta have the fluff sometimes. Maybe next post will be a little deeper! :)

Shout Out!

My blogger friend Jess posted a really sweet post about Billie's and my bags. She even posted pics! Check it out! Thanks Jess! I appreciate your kind words!

Sewing and Running...My Life!

It's been forever since I posted last...ok so maybe just a few days but it feels like forever. I just feel like my days have been packed with stuff to do and by the time I'm going to bed at night I don't feel like I can write a legible sentence. Hopefully my post makes sense tonight!

Monday night Billie came over straight from work to sew. I made some low fat Mexicali Burritos and then spent the rest of the evening sewing. Unfortunately we were having issues getting a lot done. Sometimes when we get together at night, we get frustrated because we make silly mistakes and then have to re-sew what we just sewed. And we have to take small breaks on Monday nights to watch Chuck! While Billie started sewing, I started organizing paperwork for the business! You're jealous, I know! We went to Walmart last weekend and got a bunch of clear bins and a filing folder to organize our fabrics, notions, and paperwork! I've taken a picture of my dining room area and how messy it is, but I refuse to post the picture until I have an "after" picture of everything neatly organized. The organizing is going to have to take a back seat until we can finish all of the bags that we have to have made before the end of the month!

Last night Billie, Tasha, Nevada, and I ran a short group run to get ready for our 3K on Saturday! Tasha and Nevada have never run in a race and we thought this 3K would be a great start for them. It was 78 degrees and we ran the 1.8 miles that the race would be and everyone finished! Yay! (Unfortunately it was 48 degrees today...seriously 30 degrees different!) Billie and I went out afterwards and ran a fast mile to finish our workout. I'm so excited for our race on Saturday! When i got home from running, my hubby had grilled steaks out and had dinner all ready! I'm pretty spoiled...but don't tell him!

On top of all of that excitement there has been tons of good reality TV! I'll have to discuss that tomorrow...I just don't have enough time for that tonight! (I haven't even started my DWTS DVRs!) I'm watching Idol results right now...so exciting!

Girl Time!

As a follow up to my last post... YAY! I am happy to announce that the judges made the correct decision on AI! And I am also happy that they changed it to the top 13 so both guys could make it! Whew! I will be able to continue to watch Idol this season. I was a little worried! I still think its the year of the guys.

Tonight I went out to dinner with Billie and Tasha! We wanted to do a cheap night out for obvious reasons, so we decided to go to Calistoga. Its kinda like a fancy Panera with a really great atmosphere. They are only in Florida and Kentucky...a weird combo. Anyway, it's a fairly new restaurant here and Billie had a coupon. Love it! I had the Russian River Chicken Sandwich. It was so yummy! We had such a good time just relaxing and laughing together. Spending time telling old stories and laughing together is a great way to unwind after a long Friday. Unfortunately we called it a night pretty early. Are we getting old? :) We had talked about going to a movie but there wasn't anything at the discount theater that we wanted to see. So we just hung out at Calistoga. I think it's way more fun to sit and talk than to watch a movie anyway! Maybe next time there will be a chick-flick that we HAVE to see. The hubbies are always happy to not have to go see the chick-flicks:).

I get a little disappointed with Lexington because I can never think of anything to do on a budget! Any ideas? I'm not very creative, so usually inexpensive turns into staying home and watching TV ! :)

Tatiana???Really???!!!

So this season of American Idol has started to really annoy me! First of all they didn't put through Danny's best friend, Jamar who was an amazing singer. Then they put Tatiana through to the top 36. I didn't think I could handle watching her perform for the top 36. Unfortunately her voice is actually not that bad, but she's just so immature and annoying that I can't even watch her! The crying...oh the crying... So, tonight we are watching the results show and they are naming the 8 wild card picks who get to perform again tomorrow... (which btw is really crappy since I again already have 2 shows DVR'd so I'll have to watch it live! grrr! Idol needs to stay on Tuesday and Wednesday nights!)... and sure enough they chose Tatiana as a wild card!!! Are you serious? I mean it has to just be for ratings and laughs, but I cannot handle that they would choose her over some of the other talented singers like Kendall and Ju'Not. I'm telling you, I will be voting for everyone but her tomorrow night! If America votes her through to the top 12, Idol might lose me as a dedicated fan! I also noticed that most of the people who got voted through to the top 9 were the people that they highlighted during the season about their lives. What about the rest of the people in the top 36? Maybe America would have fallen in love with them too if they knew all of their backgrounds.

After that long rant, it boils down to this...where are the talented girls?? There are only 3 females in the top 9 right now, so I think it's going to be the year of a guy winner. Danny, Kris, and Scott are my favs!

Um...Maybe I watch too much reality TV!?!

A Visit with the Fam

Yesterday after I got off work we went to visit my brother's family up in Cincinnati! My parents were going to be there so I was excited to finally give my mom her bag I made for her birthday two months ago! The kids wanted us to bring Dakota, so we all packed in the car and made the 1.5 hr trip to Cinti. Dakota was so excited to see his cousins that he could barely sit still!

When we got there the kids got their guinea pigs out to play with Cody. We found out at Thanksgiving that Cody really likes the guinea pigs. It is just so cute! He gets as close as he can and licks and licks and licks them! And the guinea pigs don't seem scared or mind the licking! So funny. I forgot my camera or I would have taken some pictures! Here's one from Thanksgiving.



Unfortunately Aunt Abby's allergies made life quite unbearable so the guinea pigs had to go to their room for the rest of the trip. I thought I had grown out of the whole "allergic to everything with fur" or at least my Allegra had helped me grow out of it, but I guess I haven't really! Good thing Dakota is hypo-allergenic!

So my parents gave us a new CD, which we listened to on our way home last night. It's so much fun. It is Bart Millard - Hymned Again. (He also has another one, "Hymned.") He's the lead singer of Mercy Me and the album has all of the old hymns that I grew up in the church singing but he has put a beat to them and a little bit of New Orleans meets bluegrass meets rag-time feel. I was singing all the way home:) It made me remember those old red hymnals that we used to use and how the hymns used to have an organ as the only accompaniment. A different life than what we are used to these days. But those old hymns are packed with truths. And listening to them as "praise songs" not as "Turn to page 56. We will be singing verses 1, 2, 4, and 6. Follow me.." made them a whole lot more personal.

It's too bad that our trip had to be so short. At least we got a trip in to Skyline while we were there! It's always nice to see family. I just wish it happened more often!