This is a little something in hopes of keeping our friends and family in the loop and be in better contact with the people that we don't see as often as we'd like.
We've had a pretty laid back week here. Not much to report except some cute pictures and some budding ideas for me in the craft realm. Here's Charlotte in a sweet dress that her Aunt Elizabeth gave her. It has pretty embroidery at the bottom in some great colors.
These 2 pictures are from Saturday when we watched our friend Ella. She's about 5 months and cute cute cute! Charlotte had a good time playing older sister.These gems I'm really excited about. They arrived in the mail on Sat. and I've already proceeded to turn them into earrings, rings, and hair pins. I think they are too adorable. I've also ventured into the wonderful world of pillow covers. They are so easy and can give a room such a lift. More on this later. Here's where we uh, stand with walking these days...
Is it still January?? I'm ready for spring. I think the 9+ days that we had of below freezing weather used up all my tolerance for winter! It's been GORGEOUS the last 2 days here and it's making me prematurely ecstatic about spring this year. We've been busy recovering from a great holiday season and hosting a friend a mine who we haven't seen in a few years. It was wonderful to catch up and connect and realize that we're still friends. PS--I'm thinking about starting an Etsy shop, pretty much due to some heavy peer pressure. Stay tuned.
Here's a little snippet from our year o' pictures...
Wish we could keep on some of the cute hats we've been given!
Thursday, January 07, 2010
So before heading out for 12 days, we spent 2 days snowed in, losing power a few times, listening to trees snap in our neighborhood, and trying not to get cabin fever. Chris and I decided to play all the games in our house (by candlelight) and keep one big scoreboard. It was a close one, but Chris ended up with the win. Turns out we got 16 inches of snow that weekend.
View from the front window...
Chris trying to dig out our car so we can go to the airport in SC the next day...
Once we're out of Asheville, the weather is fine. We fly to Grand Junction and stay 2 nights before heading down to Santa Fe, NM for Christmas with my side of the family. On the way though, we are caught in Utah by a snow storm and have to stay the night in Blanding (oh what, you've never heard of Blanding, UT?!). In our hotel, the heat does not work and Chris proceeds to kill a black widow spider. Apparently, this is one of his worst fears unbeknownst to me...so we get a new room so that he can actually sleep that night. Oh, I forgot to mention that he has bronchitus and is on some pretty heavy medication at this point so I was the driver and the functioning parental unit!
Looks like we've been in this room for days, but no, I'm pretty sure it had been half an hour.
Terrible shot through the hotel window of mostly the screen, but you get the idea...
So when we got there, this is what Chris did for the next 3 days...
Except when we went to look at the lights. On Canyon Rd. in Santa Fe they have one night where the art galleries stay open and people walk from gallery to gallery enjoying cider, lights, and the season. We went on chilly Christmas Eve. Here's a picture of my uncle Pat, sister Luci, brother Sam, and Chris.
Pretty Santa Fe scene... Big light display...
Christmas day I dressed Charlotte up and we headed over to my aunt's for food and presents. Charlotte and Grandma...
Great Grandma...
The day after Christmas we went to this amazing restaurant in Chimayo.
El Santuario de Chimayo, a church established for its curative powers. During holy week, thousands make a pilmgrimage here.
After several days with my family, everyone departs for either California or Texas or Colorado. We head back to Grand Junction. This time, Chris is feeling better, the roads are clear, and we're feeling good.
We spent a few days continuing to recover. We even saw a movie...in the theater! Then on our last day we went to Powderhorn for skiing and snowboarding. It was gorgeous!!
I can't speak for Chris, but I was really feeling my age. It was all I had to make it down the mountain! We had even tried to "get in shape" beforehand knowing that we'd be using muscles that don't normally get worked.
Making sure I don't have frostbite and adjusting my boot...
View from the lift...look at that powder! Conditions were perfect because of all the snow.
Spectacular!
All in all, a great trip. Glad we won't be traveling with Charlotte anytime soon. At this point, I wouldn't drive more than 3 hours or one plane ride at a time. We're back in town and of course there is snow, snow, and more snow. I'm SO over it!! Hope you're staying warm and dry and enjoying this new year! It's good to be home, although we left definitely longing to be nearer to our families.
Here's a little tool that I've been using for a few days now and I have to say--I like it!! I haven't found anything that really motivates me for a several uh years now...which is probably why I'm still carrying around a little extra since Charlotte's birthday and well, since being married. We joined the Y and I actually use it 3-4 a week, I run occassionally, I've asked Chris for accountability before, but nothing has come close to being as tangible (and free) as this. It's called My Fitness Pal. I orginally just thought I'd use it for the calorie counter because I decided to take drastic measures and commit to a food journal...see Chris and I have a little bet going as to who will reach their weight loss goal by the end of Feb...but this website has some other great features too! I'm aware that I sound like an infomercial right now but I had to share this, seeing as I'm on the website several times a day lately. I have to also tell you that this was spurred on by an article that we read in the in-flight magazine on our way to Colorado about websites whose whole schtick is betting on weightloss--they'll charge your credit card for donations to organizations that you wouldn't normally donate to (the example they used was gift to the George Bush presidential library if you are a democrat and the Clinton presidential library if you vote with the republican party--either way the librarians are happy!). So we'll see what happens come Feb. 28 with all of this...By the way, there are plans for continued weight maintenance for the rest of the year to keep us at our goal weight.
Another post that I read on Donald Miller's blog gave a refreshing reprise of the same old New Year's resolutions (um, see above). My brother was telling me about his latest book over the holidays and that made me look him up. Smart guys (Don and my brother). Go look and see what he is talking about these days. If you are fans of his first book Blue Like Jazz (or not) then I think you'll find his candor, humor, and depth drawing you into reflection on this year and those ahead.
This is to tide you over until I get out a real Christmas post about our trip to CO and NM via SC. We did a little homemade photo session sans foil and lighting tricks as you will soon see, but I think they turned out okay. Happy 2010!
It's been a really fun week...and here are just a few shots from it. I feel like I've kind of hit my stride when it comes to being at home and enjoying the new normal. It's such a blessing that I have the opportunity to raise our little girl, we have more than enough, and friends and family to share it with (sorry about the preposition)!
MONDAY, I made some interesting sugar cookies. By the way, I'm really liking The Joy of Cooking cookbook these days! I've always been a Better Homes and Gardens girl, but I feel the winds of change or least the winds of variety. Anyway, I didn't capture the interesting part of these cookies in the picture, but come to find out (after the dough had been chilling for several hours) that the only cookie cutters I have are a dinosaur, a horse, an angel, and the state of Texas! In the end I went with the dino, angel, and state (the horse has too many little parts).
TUESDAY, I went back to the Y for the first time in weeks due to sickness. They are having a promo where if you work out 15 times between 11/10 and 12/22 you get a free t-shirt. I'm sad to say that this is motivation but it seems to be doing the trick. Um, no pictures of this!
WEDNESDAY, we stayed home in the morning (instead of working out) and I justified it by mopping the wood floors of our home for the second time ever in 3 years. I also began the tedious process of raking our front yard in a record breaking wind storm...needless to say, I gave up, quickly. I had lunch at a new friend's house which was delicious and just plain refreshing. I love those friendships where it just feels comfortable and like you've known each other a whole lot longer than you have.
Oh yeah, I also took a funny video of our girl and Homer. My 2 favorite things about this video are Homer's eyes and Charlotte's mouth.
THURSDAY, Kate and Cara came over with their little ones Ella (right) and Mia (left). Don't know if you remember the last picture we posted of them but Ella has really caught up to the other girls--she's huge! It's funny how much pink there is around these days!
Like how everyone is leaningto the left? I like to think that Charlotte and Mia are holding hands :) As you can see, we have no idea what to do the Charlotte's hair lately! It's super long in the front and I don't necessarrily want her to have bangs (but that's all I know). And she's starting to figure out when there's a clip or rubberband in her hair and pulls on it immediately. Grrr...
It's FRIDAY and I'm busy getting a box together to send ahead of us to Colorado since it costs so much to check bags now! That means I've got to have my Christmas presents in a row and things nailed down a little bit. I got to skype with my folks for awhile this morning. My mom is having to undergo pretty heavy duty chemo after Christmas and no one is looking forward to this, esp. her. Please pray if you think about it. Hopefully we'll get to travel to Austin in the spring for a mid-chemo visit or two. These circumstances give new meaning to "consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..."
Much love to you in these busy weeks.
Monday, December 07, 2009
It's been a long year as far as the growth of our small group, but look at us now...
we're no longer small! (This picture was snapped without another family of six who also are apart of the group.) We're talking 13 kids and 14 adults! A year ago there were 3-4 committed couples and we've been praying for more folks to join us for some time. It's been so encouraging to meet more young families who are growing in their faith and raising their kids to do the same. It seems like this demographic is just exploding at our church right now and we're meeting new people all the time.
Here are pictures of a dress that I made for Charlotte. I actually took off the bodice and made it bigger...as you can see it was a little on the small side. I think this dress made her feel really good about herself. At least that's what
I saw these on a friend of a friend's facebook page (don't pretend like you don't get lost in facebook land too!) and fell in love. These pictures take me away to another place completely. I so remember my year in Colorado and how utterly saturated I felt in the word and in the people around me...even though I was in a brand new place with people I'd never met before. Where I worked and lived, it seemed like everything was working together (granted that is my selective memory at work--it was by no means perfect, but it was um, simple). These days my life (and my many past lives in various places) feels pretty compartmentalized with different groups of friends and family and friends that continue to be spread out but who are still so much a part of who I am. Anyway, know that I am thinking of you today on this blustery Wednesday in Weaverville, NC and praising the Lord for putting you in my life!
In a season where we celebrate bounty and abundance, I am praising Him for always providing more than we need and all that we could want. His love, his provision, and his power to sustain us is unending.
These 2 pictures are from Saturday when we watched our friend Ella. She's about 5 months and cute cute cute! Charlotte had a good time playing older sister.
These gems I'm really excited about. They arrived in the mail on Sat. and I've already proceeded to turn them into earrings, rings, and hair pins. I think they are too adorable. I've also ventured into the wonderful world of pillow covers. They are so easy and can give a room such a lift. More on this later.
Chris trying to dig out our car so we can go to the airport in SC the next day...
Looks like we've been in this room for days, but no, I'm pretty sure it had been half an hour.
El Santuario de Chimayo
Like how everyone is leaningto the left? I like to think that Charlotte and Mia are holding hands :) As you can see, we have no idea what to do the Charlotte's hair lately! It's super long in the front and I don't necessarrily want her to have bangs (but that's all I know). And she's starting to figure out when there's a clip or rubberband in her hair and pulls on it immediately. Grrr... 
I think this dress made her feel really good about herself. At least that's what 
In a season where we celebrate bounty and abundance, I am praising Him for always providing more than we need and all that we could want. His love, his provision, and his power to sustain us is unending. 
