Christmas Pictures 2009

~Uncle Benjamin

~Here is Bay snoozing after all the fun on Christmas. He was pretty tired!

~Here I am at 33 weeks

~Baby Zane enjoying his Christmas present

~Marie and I on our visit to the National Museum of the Air Force

~Jon and his sweet Zane

~My Benjamin

What a lovely Christmas we had! The time flew by and I cannot believe that I had to say goodbye to Benjamin today!

I am looking forward to when I can be with him in Florida.....

We all had so much fun. Played games every night, ate, ate and ate! Me especially ;) I seemed to never get full! It was really nice that Benjamin was able to spend some time with his little nephew. Our time together will never be forgotten. It was so lovely to spend Christmas this year with Jon and Marie. Marie and I are getting our heads straight again after all the fun and are looking forward to 2010!

Happy New Year everyone :)

1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him."

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas and God bless!!

Thankfulness....

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Been making preparations for my beloved Benjamin!

Tomorrow is the day and we have a full day of just doing whatever we want! We may go see a movie, eat out and just enjoy being together.

I have been enjoying preparing and planning for his arrival. Today I got the sheets washed, organizing the closet so he can hang his clothes :P Painted my nails and wore a smile. :) So very thankful to Lord for His goodness and love to me.

Christmas Cake

Need some Christmas inspiration? Watch Nigella Lawson bake her delicious Christmas cake. Marie made it last night and it was wonderful! A lot of the fun is in the baking of it as well. Everything is cooked in a saucepan before it is baked. I loved the uniqueness of this recipe :) I love being pregnant during the Christmas season :P

32 Weeks

32 Weeks, wow, almost there!

A picture both Marie and I liked :P which can sometimes be a challenge!

Here are a couple of pictures that I found from the last week and half. They aren't the greatest, but its better then nothing! :P

Almost Here!

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One week countdown and my Benjamin will be here! We were unable to have him for Thanksgiving, but I get him for Christmas instead :) So excited to be able to snuggle with him at night and keep each other warm! I think I am just now adjusting to the cold temperatures. I am wondering how he will do though! Plus most of his civilian clothes are back in Az. He may be borrowing some clothes from Jon! :P

Tea and a Christmas Movie

Tonight we are staying warm by the fire as the wind and snow blow into town. We are enjoying the best movie of the year, Its a Wonderful Life.

Marie made some yummy Thumb Print Jam Cookies , Jon got the movie and I am getting the tea! Even though I have seen it every year since I was little, I never tire of it :) Now I just need a box of tissues! :P

To read more about the trivia I found click here.

It's a Wonderful Life was a box office flop? One of the main resaons for the movie's enormous success is the failure of RKO to renew copyright. Back then, copyright only lasted for 27 years. So 1946 +27 years brings us to 1973, when the copyright should have been but wasn't renewed. TV stations quickly noticed this and began to run the movie, especially at Christmas, which brought the movie to broad audience, who loved it. No one person has ever stepped up and taken responsibility for the failure to renew.

Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart worked together on three films - It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and You Can't Take It WIth You.

It's a Wonderful Life won NO major Academy Awards.

Christmas Delights

As Nigella Lawson so perfectly describes every delicious morsel of her cooking ingredients, she always throws me into the most delightful "quintessential" experience. :) Enjoying the Christmas season. From decorating the house and tree, shopping for gifts, listening to the Christmas music in the stores, wrapping presents and arranging them under the tree, enjoying snugly babies and puppies too ;P and then of course the cooking! It leaves me to say that I am sad to see that December already seems to be flying by! When I was little, it was the longest month of the year since I was in a hurry to get to that glorious Christmas day. :) But now I just want the season to slow down so I can enjoy every little piece.

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely season of Christmas!

God's Comforting Love

Psalm 46:1-11

¹ God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

³ though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;

God will help her at break of day.

⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;

he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

⁸ Come and see the works of the LORD,

the desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,

he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰ "Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth."

¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Steven Crowder

Steven Crowder does such a great job showing simple truths involved in our political arena. I love watching his videos and this one really made me laugh! Don't forget to scroll down and turn off my music :)

Messages Of Encouragement

Not to long ago I heard about Dr. Charles Stanley, mainly because he had had David Barton over to preach for his congregation during the 4th of July weekend. My Mom was the one who told me about it. But I had never heard Of Dr. Stanley before this. Then recently my parents recommended a message by him on his webpage, so I went to his page and have listened to many messages since. I have been so blessed and encouraged from all that he is preaching, which is directly from the word! :) I thought I would share to those of you who like to have something to listen to while your cleaning or cooking. :P

To visit directly to his audio messages click here. He does a message a day and since we are just now in December there are only a few. I listened to many from November, I wish they were still up! :)

A Laugh :)

These little comics gave me a laugh. I have felt like I have a little boxer in my belly :)

Thank You....

I can't help myself! I happened to look over at Shabby Blogs again and I couldn't resist! Its like shopping, and its free! They always have such lovely backgrounds :P So sorry everyone if I keep changing mine! I promise I will not change it again until the new year ;) Thank you Shabby Blogs!

Traditions......

Whenever I say the word tradition, the Fiddler On The Roof song comes into my head :P

I was so happy to hear that Marie had gotten all the ingredients for our favorite Frog Eyed Salad the other day. Has anyone ever had Frog Eyed Salad before? My Mom would faithfully make it every year and we were always pleased to see that she made enough to last a couple days after Thanksgiving ;).

All it is, is tiny Acini Di Pepe macaroni cooked until soft then you mix in Whipped Cream, Vanilla Pudding, Mandarin Oranges, crushed Pineapple. Put it in a beautiful glass bowl and it looks lovely and tastes DELICIOUS! :) We would only have it on Thanksgiving :)

Does anyone want to share their special favorite traditional dish that they have on Thanksgiving?

~Image courtesy of Larkspur~

A Psalm.........

~ I haven't been able to stop thinking about this beautiful scripture. Its so powerful and moving and I am so thankful for my loving savior and God. Words cannot express my love. ~

Psalm 139

¹ O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.

² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.

³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.

⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.

⁵ You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.

⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"

¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!

¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!

²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.

²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD,
and abhor those who rise up against you?

²² I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Enjoying the Season..

I have already mentioned that I am enjoying the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas really early this year. Maybe its because the two prior years were a whirl wind. And I have more time now to feel and sense all the delights! Marie and Jon went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving yesterday and it gave me a chance to bake up some Cranberry Scones. I was a little afraid to make them here since the climate is different then what I am used to in Az. And to waste all of those precious ingredients like butter and cream would be such a shame! And oh my did they come out wonderful! :P Just the right texture not too hard. They MELTED in my mouth! ;) Perfect with a cup of tea to wash down with. The cranberries were really pretty to put in and they gave such a pretty color for pre-Christmas scones :)

28 Weeks.....

~28 weeks

~ Its starting to get hard to see those toes!

~Here is Jodi's delicious cake she made on Saturday

Been really busy these last few weeks and I feel I have been lagging in my blogging! I had Marie take some pictures of me at 28 weeks. I had to have her take a lot!!! Its strange to see myself looking so big. And I had a hard time finding a picture that I liked :P The baby seems to be healthy and strong :) lots of kicks and I can just look down at my belly and see it moving in all different directions! Today I just rubbed my belly to say hello to Itty Bitty and right after I felt this enormous KICK!

Our Motives party was a delight on Saturday. We didn't have as many ladies as we had hoped, but we are so happy for the way it turned out! It really gave Marie and I much more confidence in working on women's skin. And to have had a load of ladies show up would have been NERVE WRACKING! :)

Marie and I were bummed, when we realized we had forgotten to take pictures of our party in our haste to have everything *perfect* :) I did take a picture of the cake that our dear friend Jodi made and brought. It was delicious!

Today's Thoughts..

"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind."

~C.S. Lewis

Beautiful Olga

I had to share the beauty of my sister and the talent of my brother ;)

My brother Nathan is visiting my family in Colorado and went ahead and took Olga's senior pictures while he was there. She had to have them in before Thanksgiving. He offered to do any of her friends as well and didn't get many who were interested. But now I bet they are REGRETTING it! I sure wish Nathan could have taken my Senior pictures! :P My sister Marie also posted some pictures you can check em out here.

Fireplaces

~He he I thought this one was cute too :)

I have been loving fireplaces lately. Well, I have always loved them, but I have been attracted to looking and studying different kinds. I know that stoves are really the better thing to have, because they are the real heat source. Just not as attractive ;) Here are a few that I found. :)