Home!!!!

I am home! Well, kinda. Benjamin and I went up to Flagstaff for the weekend. It has been so nice here. There is a foot of snow outside and we are snug in this very nice hotel :) We have been planning this little getaway for a couple of weeks now. We were thinking about going to the Grand Canyon, but it is too snowy and cold! We just want to stay inside and enjoy this lovely sleep number bed! :) Has anyone ever tried a sleep number? This is my first and boy did I sleep good last night :) Well, here comes Christmas! I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas! :)

Merry Christmas!!! :)

Here are some pictures from today. Olga's basket ball game and Christmas shopping with Marie :) We found a gift card to starbucks in Marie's purse :) with $15 on it! Then we met up with one of our life long friends who is getting married in January! Our grandparents knew each other and our fathers grew up together and so did we! :) I only got one picture of Olga. We had several pictures but this one is the clearest of her. She is the one in the white. It was a home game and we won 43 to 28! =)

Pictures

Here are some pictures YAY! I was able to upload them to photo bucket :) 

NAVY

I have an exciting announcement to make :) and no I am not joining the NAVY :) but Benjamin is!!!!!!! He has been waiting to join for two years, he just received his permanent residency! I can't believe two years have gone by already, but they have and it seems to be perfect timing! We haven't said anything, because things don't always turn out the way we plan, but this has! :) He isn't scheduled to leave until June, but there is a good chance he could leave earlier for boot camp. He scored high on his ASVAB, so he has a nice job option, he is going for flight engineer. Our future residence could be Florida or San Diego.( I am really excited about how nice he will look in his uniform :) he he! My blog name fits perfectly now! That wasn't planned :)So many changes for us and now with Marie and John moving too. But God has us all in his plan :) and I am so grateful for Him. 

 He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust."  Surely He will save you from the fowler's snare and the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge, his faithfulness with be your shield and rampart..............

                                               Psalms 91

That must be one my favorites :) the rest of it is enriching. :)

 I wont be heading back to Phoenix for another ten days or so. I will try to update before then =)

Family Happenings =)

I just got back from shopping with Olga and Marie. We attempted the crowds and went out on black friday, we awoke at 4:30 A.M. :) The lines were pretty long, all the way back to the end of the store! No one shoved, pulled, kicked, or wacked! Thank goodness! :) Did any one get any good sales?

We had such a nice Thanksgiving. It snowed and the house was filled with the aroma of turkey! The lot of us went on a walk and lounged around all day. The girls mainly knitted (we have just learned how to knit recently and can't seem to stop) the boys played cards with dad and it was so peaceful!!!!

I just picked out some random pictures from the last couple weeks and also from yesterday, I am having such a hard time loading them because of the internet connection, I will have to try later.
=)
Hope everyone is having a great holiday! It has been so nice to being in Colorado :) I have missed my family so much.

No Internet....

Sorry everyone! Marie and I took a surprise trip to Colorado (and are having a fantastic time) but we don't get any internet out here! Our family lives right next to the mountains and no internet! We shall be back eventually and we will update galore!!! :) Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and I hope you all are doing good. I miss all of your blogs =( 

Happy Turkey Day :)

Time goes....

So fast! Marie and I had such a nice time. We talked and talked and played! She touched up my hair and then I decided I wanted a new look with my bangs too. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but I will post some pictures of my slightly new look soon :) We also had fun trying on this really nice facial mask. By the time we did all this our time was gone and we had to get to bed! I think we needed two days! =) Lisa, no we didn't watch any movies, we tried but we ended up talking over the movie! 

Im Off....

Im off to visit Marie! Her husband John is away on a business trip and she cant stay alone right? I think girls sometimes need a little feminine time! :) The last time I had Marie to myself was the night before my wedding. She is going to do my hair and we are probably going to do each other's toes! And of course we will have our cup of tea. Benjamin will be fine right? :) Maybe we will take a few pictures and I will share =)

Antiquing

Yesterday Ruthie and I went antiquing! We found two antique malls close to our area and they were side by side! The real nice thing about it was that everything was very affordable. We wanted to buy up everything just because of the prices. :) I found this adorable little writing table and I couldn't pass it up. I love white furniture. The best part about it was the price :) So I am trying to figure out the right place it belongs in the house. The cats are really enjoying it as well! :)

Cash Flow

Has anyone heard of the board game Cash Flow? It is rather expensive, but VERY educational! Our friends have it and brought it over last night. We were up until 12:30 A.M. playing! I learned so much about investing, stocks and being brilliant with money! Its great for all you homeschool moms! All I want to do now is go out and buy a business! :)

A Gift From Mom

Benjamin received some plum preserves from my mom for his birthday. I'm afraid I will eat it all up before he gets a chance to try it! :) When we were kids we used to go out and pick plums close to our house. We did it every year. It has been a long time since I have tried mom's jam. Boy did it bring back memories! Thank you mom! :)

Fall is Here

Fall is here!!! The high today is 75! We turned off the air conditioner and opened the windows and oh is it nice! 

Elon is visiting us for the day! He is having his nap right now. His parents forgot his net that goes over his little crib (he can get out of it) so we had to put a mattress over his crib! It worked so well, he went to sleep right away! He he he! I took some pictures of him playing with our cats. Bobby tied some string around his little wrist and Elon just loved it! The cats did too =) Here are some pictures of them at play.

Lemon Feta Cheese Green Onion Dip

We are going over to my brother's house tonight and everyone is bringing a snack, so I made this recipe, I was going to bring pita bread, but I couldn't find it at the store, I even went to Whole Foods and they didn't have any. So I will have to make do with french bread or crackers. Its very different, but I love feta cheese. Hopefully everyone will like it as well =)

This is Bobby Flay's Recipe. (I love him :)

Ingredients

• 12 green onions, green part only, grilled and chopped, plus additional thinly sliced green onions, for garnish
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for grilling pitas
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon zest
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 pound feta cheese, crumbled
• 8 pocketless pitas
• 
  
• Directions

  Place grilled green onions, oil, lemon juice, and zest in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the feta and garlic and process until combined and smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and garnish with the additional sliced green onions.

  Heat grill to high. Brush the pitas with the remaining oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Grill for 1 minute per side or until lightly golden brown. Remove from the grill and cut each pita into eighths. Serve with the feta dip.

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Date Night

We finally had a date night! Life seems to be really busy lately and so it was really nice to enjoy each other on our friday night! =) We went and saw a movie. Which was very patriotic and quite amusing...... American Carol. I wouldn't recommend it for the family, because of language and a lot of junk talk, but the message was brilliant. And its so nice to see truth being spoken on the big screen! Have a great weekend everyone! 

New Book

Churchill's Promise Land

I found this book one day by chance, or by providence...... =) It has been so interesting. It regards the jews during the 19th century and Winston Churchill's part in it. Winston had such a great understanding of the world and of history. I am not sure of the outcome of this book yet, but I am very glad I found it :)

David Barton

Voting? Christian? Are you living your faith? Then we all need to vote!!!!! Please watch this! Please please please! =)

Playing Ponies

Sisi and I played ponies today. She named them Purply, Pinky and Colorey! So you can imagine what they looked like! Their first names are Sparkily! We put their hair in braids and went to a ball. I think our game turned into Cinderella! =) Did anyone grow up with ponies? I sure did. My sister and I mixed them with Barbies, horses and doll house! We actually had a hard time growing out of those games. I think we were 12 or 13 before we finally gave it up! :) But maybe I didn't actually, because we had so much fun today! =)

Today was fun and eventful. Ruthie and I made yummy crepe strawberries with tea for breakfast. Then my brother and sister-in-law dropped off their little boy, Elon. He is spending the weekend with us while his parents enjoy a little getaway time. He is quite energetic, but there is enough of us around to use up his energy =). Ruthie and I made a fun tuna casserole that my sister Marie shared with me. Oh my word it was so tasty. She puts in the italian gnocchis with small macaroni pasta then adds celery and of course the tuna, mixes either mayo or sour cream, tops it with cheese and then broils the top until the cheese is melted and just slightly browned. It was very good. Next time I need to add more mayo, because it was a little bland. Ruthie's boyfriend Jonathan came over a little later with his brother and they helped us devour it! I went and gave Elon a bath and put him to bed and when I came back to the kitchen, the whole casserole dish was empty! It was a big sized casserole dish as well! So thanks Marie!! Everyone enjoyed it!!! 

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! We sure are :) we get to take Elon to church with us tomorrow! He he !

Back and ready!!!!

Sorry everyone for being gone sooo long! I am back and ready and so is my dear little computer! We had to have some work done on the screen. It looks brand new now! Thanks everyone who left comments. It is so nice to be missed! :) I am determined to be a better blogger more then ever now! Fall is here and so my inspiration flows! :) Wheww we made it through the hot summer! One thing I am going miss is all of the swimming! I just love coming home from work all hot and sweaty from the car, run and race into my swimsuit and JUMP into the pool! The year will pass quick enough =) Tonight Benjamin and I are going to enjoy some time together and go out to eat! I don't know yet where we are going, but I will tell all tomorrow. If it is worth telling! :)

 I have been enjoying God's blessings these last two weeks. He is so good to us all! The beauty of the season..( I know this is Arizona and we don't have four seasons, but I can tell in the direction of the sun that fall is here.) The outcome of this presidential race has lifted my spirits a lot I must say. The future of America is so important to me. Does anyone else feel this way? Isn't only my family and I? When I look at our history and our founding, I am sadden that we are so far from what used to be. And it makes me sad to see so many Americans act so foolishly about the state of things. So all that to say I am so happy and excited for what God is going to do in our country! =) 

I will write later about the fun birthday we had at our house for Nathan my brother and my nephew Elon. It was quite a success! Very NOISY! :)

Sorry everyone I have been out of a computer for the last week! But I will be back soon =)

Elderly woman witnesses to man trying to rob her

This video is wonderful, it isn't very long so take a look! :)

Wives and Daughters.....

Marie told me about this BBC show called Wives and Daughters. And I am so addicted now! I encourage anyone who loves Elizabeth Bennett or Ann of Green Gables to try this series  =) I've been watching it through YouTube. I have not yet finished it, so I don't know the outcome. I hope it ends well! =) Here is the trailer.

I have been working on the arrangement of our house. And ever since we got a piano our house has flowed so much better! We had purchased a piano and after I decided what room it looked best in, I had to rearrange the rest of the house! Anyways, we made a really nice piano/music room with what was once the dinning room. I found this beautiful shade at Micheals for 75 % off! I love it and I am able to decorate the room using the colors of this shade! I got some new pillows and some pictures that coordinate with it =)

La la la laaaa........

                                           The little one =)

                                               

                                              Time to curl my hair! :)

                    Aamena, Sam, and Safiyya in their playtime garb :)

With the kids back to school this last week, Sisi and I have had such a lovely time! :) Although I do miss Sam and Aamena, it has been nice to have peaceful mornings with the little one =) She has fun in the bath much longer now and I get to blog more!!! :) I also curled my hair while she was bathing =). I don't always come to work looking my best, and its nice to have time to beautify myself! Yesterday we made a dump cake together. She sits on the counter and watches. It is also really nice, because I can deal with her little tantrums a little bit better. She is starting to get in the habit of being good! I put some pictures up of the kids in their morning dress up outfits. We had a wonderful summer. I am so thankful =)

Just a Few More..

Here are a couple more pictures, that I wanted to put up. While we were in LA, we stayed on a retired ship named The Queen Mary. Its pretty antique and very quaint. It doesn't sail anymore. They have several restaurants running on it and have lots of tours during the day. It was a lot of fun. I wish we had taken the time to do a tour of the ship, but we didn't :) Too excited to go to the beach I guess!

Summer Vacation

Guess where we went this last week? Mhmmm =) We went to the beach! It was either the Grand Canyon...... Or LA...... I am very glad we decided to go to the beach! =) The water was perfect! The waves were fantastic as well =) But not to0 overpowering! Here are some pictures of our trip. Is everyone enjoying the olympics? I have been glued to them since they started! =)

Comfort Food

Bread, Roast, Watermelon and sparkling grape juice! MMMMMMM Slice the bread, spread the meat onto it, pour the juice and YUMMY!!! Watermelon for dessert :)

Buds

I have to say that Safiyya is in love with Elon. Ever since Elon was born, I have showed her pictures of him off of my phone and she just loves him. She has named all her babies "Elon". And whenever we happen to see him, she almost smothers him with love :) I have to tell her to please stop touching or hugging Elon. Anyways here are some pictures of them reading together one day at Marie's house.

Birthdays and Dates....

                                               Benjamin and I :)                    

                                             Marie and John at Kathy's Birthday

                                             

                      Bobby, Benjamin, me and Ruthie (Bobby is hiding)

                                              Birthday girl and Grandpa

                                                                   

                                              Ruthie and I on our double date

                                                   Jonathan and Ruthie :)

Busy summer time! During the last week and a half we celebrated Kathy's birthday and had a fun time celebrating with them. We all went out to restaurant and visited and laughed. =) Benjamin and I also went on double date with Ruthie and her boy friend Jonathan last week. It was a lot of fun, he has been over very often lately =) We are really enjoying him and are so happy for Ruthie. Here are some of the pictures and I did a little of everyone. John, Marie, Grandpa, Kathy, =) I hope everyone is having a nice summer!