Our Christmas

I have the best husband...He treated me VERY well this Christmas!  We decided to have our own little Christmas last night as we will be busy with our families the rest of the weekend into Christmas Day.

Little sucker made me do a scavenger hunt for my final gift.  He is so creative!  Much more creative than I am about gifts and such.

I am soooo excited about baking and cooking with my new Professional Kitchen Aid Mixer!!!!  Best husband ever!!!

I somehow managed to hide a 90 lb. 5 Drawer Tool Cabinet in our garage under a blanket.  He loved it!

Ellie even loved her gift.  She walked around the house with it in her mouth wagging her tail and "crying" because she was so excited!  Too cute!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

What Has To Change?

Warning - a little long winded, but I have a lot on my mind that I wanted to share.

I have been struggling a lot over the past few days trying to comprehend what has happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School (and all over our country this weekend).  Those poor children and teachers that had to live through horror and evil.  I can't make sense of it.  I've cried a lot, I've been glued to the TV to try and understand what would make someone do such a horrible thing, especially to those that are so young, full of life and don't understand what evil really is.

Last night watching President Obama speak I thought about what I can do moving forward to help prevent this from happening again.  I obviously know this wasn't my fault, but it truly can happen anywhere.  The President made a comment along the lines of "what can we do as a nation to prevent this from happening?  Are we doing enough to protect our children?" And before he said it, I thought to myself No, I could probably do more. 

Brian and I talked a lot about raising our children someday and the life that we want them to have, the values we want to instill in them...the values that were so important in our upbringing and what has made us who we are today....Faith in Christ, respect, honesty, love, thoughtfulness, dignity, compassion.

But in my mind there is more we can do right now...we can set examples for people in our community, talk with the kids in our neighborhood, be a helping hand to those in need, be respectable, honest, loving people to everyone in our community, especially kids, to show them what being a loving, caring, respectable citizen is truly about.  It doesn't matter what religion, race, ethnicity anyone is.  We all have to live in this world and we all have to do our part to make it a healthy place, a place that we want our children to grow up in and live to be happy, healthy adults and have children of their own. 

Last night I had night mares about those kids and what they went through.  No child should ever have to worry about real monsters in this world. 

I think its simple:  Treat others as you want to be treated.  It's sad that it takes horrible tragedy for people to "wake up" and realize that a law, or actions need to change.  I think I am a respectable person, I care about my neighbors and my community, I look out for my family.  But it wouldn't hurt if I did just a little bit more.  Maybe its volunteering at a school, helping the homeless shelter once a month, spending more time with family, I don't know what it is exactly.  I just feel like I need to do more, that I want to do more.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

I don't know if she will even see this, but Happy Birthday to my sister - Laur Laur!

Her name is Lauren, but I have always called her "Laur Laur" or "LD".  She is my best friend and I'm one lucky girl who has such a supportive and loving sister!

As you will see by the pictures we don't really look a lot alike, but I promise, we are sisters...less than 2 years a part.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

We know, we're special!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We have decorated our house for CHRISTMAS!  It is my favorite times of year. 

The smell of pine needles

Twinkle lights

Santa Clause

Christmas Eve Service

Pure joy!!!  And this year I get to celebrate my first Christmas with my HUSBAND in our new house!  I even convinced Brian to get a real tree this year! 

Enjoy a look into our little piece of Christmas Heaven!

The tree didn't fall off of the car = SUCCESS!

Our living room - complete!

Craft Project - Paper Mache letters spray painted with gold sparkle spray paint

Our REAL Christmas tree!

"Kissing Ball"  I didn't like the look of the mistletoe and I thought this was prettier

New Christmas table runner for the dining room.

More Pinterest inspired projects!  

Dining Room

Hopefully your start to the Christmas season is just as special and cheery as ours is!  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Life is moving too fast!

Where has the year gone?  I can't believe Thanksgiving has already come and gone and its now time to get ready for Christmas. 

Well, the hubby and I have been super busy, so I'll try to do a quick run down of life's events lately, but this post could get pretty long (and includes lots of pics).  Enjoy!

1.) Baby shower for our dear friend Marlo.  She is having a baby girl and due at the end of January!  Can't wait!!

Proud Mamma, Pappa and big brother!

Adorable cupcakes on top of the cake

Bee hive made out of donut holes

2.) Wedding in Fort Worth, Texas for a good family friend - Julie and Andrew!  Beautiful couple and the wedding was at A ZOO!  Totally awesome and different.

3.) Sprint Center for the CBE Classic.  I got some super cheap tickets through work (the only way I would watch KU basketball live) and I took Brian.  Look at me being a supportive wife...I try!  ;)

4.) Thanksgiving has already come and gone.  Its my favorite holiday of the year and with the new job I just don't feel like I got to enjoy it as much as I like to.  I had to work the Friday after, which I typically like to go shopping (call me crazy, but I love the hustle and bustle of Christmas time).  That's ok - we were still able to spend some awesome time with our families. 

We're special and we know it!

K-State Homecoming/ADPI Reunion Weekend

My best friend was in town two weekends ago.  I think we crammed as many events into one weekend as humanly possibly, but it was A BLAST!  Now I just need her to move back....

Surprise Bday party on Friday evening after we picked them up at the airport.  (Her mom had no clue, best surprise I've seen in a while!)

K-State Homecoming Game on Saturday...which we won AGAIN!  Still undefeated!!!  I love my Wildcats!  Plus, it was our ADPI Reunion weekend.  Who knew...tailgates and babies instead of tailgates and too much beer!  It was great to catch up with everyone!

T

The K-State band played right next to our tailgate!  GOO CATS!

Adding little ADPI's one by one!

And Sunday was the Chiefs vs. Raider's game.  The Chiefs suck, but we still love to support our local team.  And we had a great time anyway!

On top of all of the vents, Brian and I had family staying at our house and we got to baby sit our niece and nephew Saturday evening after the football games while Brian's brother and wife attended a wedding.  I was asleep about 10 minutes after the kids went to sleep.  Exhausted!

They are great kids!  I'm one lucky aunt!!

Yes, it was jam packed, but totally worth it!

Making Progress

Thank you to my dad, Kim and my sister for coming over today and helping us clean out our front garden.  

{And there is a ton more work to do, but 2 hours today was very helpful and productive.}

Brian and I neglected our yard all summer and we are kinda paying for it now, but hey...new jobs, getting married, and painting the horrible colors in our house took priority.  

The goal before winter comes is to clean out the garden beds, take care of the weeds, trim down the bushes and see what comes back in the Spring.  Then, we'll start purchasing new plants, and making our yard look much prettier than it is.

Here are some pictures of what it looked like at the beginning of the day.

Horrible looking plants before we ripped them out

Another angle of the ugly plants

I don't even know what to say -- its a mess!

Cleaned up and chopped down

We ripped the dead plants out = NOT FUN!

Beautiful trimmed tree...you can walk under it now!

I feel so productive today!  More to come next spring when we plant new shrubs!

I love Fall!

It is that wonderful time of year where the trees begin to change colors, football is always on the TV in our house, the air conditioning has been turned off and windows open (if my allergies aren't horrible).

I have also used Pinterest as an inspiration source for some fall decorating ideas around the house and on our front porch.  (please don't mind the horrible bushes, that is a project we need to begin soon).

Here are a few shots of our fall decorating items around our household.

{source of inspiration}

source of inspiration