DPP - Day 13

So, I missed a day. And this picture was from a couple of days ago. But whatever. This was our sunrise the other day, and it was absolutely beautiful. For a few minutes, everything looked purple!

DPP - Day 11

This picture deserves another post from my phone.

Yes, it's December. And yes, we're at the beach.

Don't hate!

It's nice and sunny and warm with a wonderfully cool breeze.

Don't do it...don't hate us!

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DPP - Day 10

Is this what you would choose to wear on a cold, rainy, foggy day? By the way, she's fake sneezing.

DPP - Day 9

It happens every day, but the girls always get so excited to have their Daddy home.

DPP - Day 8

As long as we live here, I don't think I'll ever get sick of seeing these sunsets. Would you?

DPP - Day 7

These are my cannisters, now with chalkboard paint labels! I love chalkboard paint, and the idea to use it for this hit me the other day! Someone recommended chalk markers, and that's what I've used to write on them with.

Kendall Speak - Part 7

The other day, Kendall had a little lipstick case that my mom had left here...you know, the kind with the little mirror in it? She put bobby pins in the case, and then she'd open the case, look in the mirror and take her bobby pin to her cheeks and her nose and she'd say, "I puttin' goulash on my cheeks and nake up on my nose."

For those that don't speak Kendallese, that's blush on her cheeks and make up on her nose.

Just now, while she's avoiding eating her breakfast, she asked if I wanted to see a trick. Of course, I did, so she did a somersault. Then I told her what trick I really wanted to see, and that would be making her breakfast disappear.

She said, "Okay! I will put my breasksast under my table!"

DPP - Day 6

I may have been a little late for yesterdays post, but I'm super early for todays - it's barely 7 am!

Kendall came down the stairs this morning, and looked out our back window/door. She saw a pink stripe in the sky, and she pointed to it and said, "Does that pink stwipe mean the sun is comin' out?" Smart girl, huh?

DPP - Day 5

So, I'm a little late getting in my Day 5 picture, but here it is! We had a great weekend with great friends in San Diego! We know Andy and Megan from when we lived in Albuquerque, but they moved to San Diego about the same time we moved to Ohio, and then we moved out here, and we're only about 1 1/2 hours away from them.

Such a fun weekend was had by all!

DPP - Day 4

We're at the San Diego Zoo right now...that's right, I'm blogging from my phone!

These elephants are getting pedicures! And I entitle this post "Elephant Butt."

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DPP - Day 3

Today's picture is of the ornament I got at an ornament exchange last night! The exchange was done white elephant style, so things could be stolen up to 3 times. I stole this one from someone who stole it from someone else, so it was still eligible to be stolen, but no one did! I was pretty excited about it. If you can't tell from the picture, it's in the shape of Mickey.

DPP - Day 2

Is anyone else just a little freaked out by our Elf on the Shelf (which, by the way, Kendall so cleverly named "Elfie")? I am...just a little.

DPP - Day 1

It's December 1! Which means it's time again for the December Photo Project! I've done this for a few years now, and want to keep it going. You should join, too!

I started another blog for my newest obsession (quilting), to save those of you who could care less from seeing me post about quilts. But, I'm kind of merging the two right now. Because I'm up to my head in quilting projects that I'm trying to finish before Christmas (that just makes me laugh, because it's not gonna happen), so that's where I am today with my picture. Here's Cami's feet on the quilt I'm currently working on for my niece.



Because, you know, as soon as you lay something on the floor that's new and colorful, the baby HAS to stand on it!

Hallelujah!

I have words from the Hallelujah Chorus stuck in my head. I have to say, out of all the words and lyrics to be stuck in my head, these are some good ones: "And He shall reign forever, and ever...King of Kings, and Lord of Lords...Forever, and ever...Hallelujah, Hallelujah!"

The reason they're stuck in my head? Maybe you've seen it already, or maybe you've seen the links to it on Facebook, but this is why...



Watching that video brought tears to my eyes, gave me chills, and just made me happy. I like seeing some people's reactions at the beginning (which was maybe confusion, annoyance, shock) change by the end (smiling faces, happiness, appreciation). I was also happy that this group chose to sing this song. It's so easy for us to forget what Christmas is about - in our house, we try to strike a balance between Santa and the birth of Christ, but it does get hard given the culture we live in.

Anyways, the nerd in me came out when I heard this song, so I looked some stuff up on Wikipedia, and I thought this part was interesting:

The most famous movement is the "Hallelujah" chorus, which concludes the second of the three parts. The text is drawn from three passages in the New Testament book of Revelation:

And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. (Revelation 19:6)
And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. (Revelation 19:16)

In many parts of the world, it is the accepted practice for the audience to stand for this section of the performance. The tradition is said to have originated with the first London performance of Messiah, which was attended by King George II. As the first notes of the triumphant Hallelujah Chorus rang out, the king rose to his feet and remained standing until the end of the chorus. Royal protocol has always dictated that when the monarch stands, everyone in his (or her) presence is also required to stand. Thus, the entire audience and orchestra stood when the king stood during the performance, initiating a tradition that has lasted more than two centuries.[11] It is lost to history the exact reason why the King stood at that point, but the most popular explanations include:

*He was so moved by the performance that he rose to his feet.
*Out of tribute to the composer.
*As was and is the custom, one stands in the presence of royalty as a sign of respect. The Hallelujah chorus clearly places Christ as the King of Kings. In standing, King George II accepts that he too is subject to the Lord of Lords.

I hope you watch the video, and I hope it moves you as much as it moved me.

Kendall Speak - Part 6

Usually, when something fun is coming up, I don't let Kendall know too far in advance, because she'll get really excited about it, and start talking about it non-stop. I didn't tell her about this, but she overheard me telling someone else about it (I need to remember, she's almost 3 now, she can actually eavesdrop!), so now she's talking about it non-stop. We'll be going to the San Diego Zoo soon, and she's pretty excited. So this was our conversation in the car yesterday (keep in mind, she says her L's like W's)...

Kendall: Do you wike ewephants?
Me: Yes, of course!
Kendall: Ewephants are aweways at a zoo. They wive there.
Me: Yeah, some elephants do live at the zoo.
Kendall: Mama, do you wike giwaffes?
Me: Yes I do!
Kendall: Giwaffes have big necks and ewephants have small necks. Giwaffes have big necks so they can eat weaves. But ewaphants don't have big necks. Ewephants don't eat weaves.
Me: If elephants don't eat leaves then what do they eat?
Kendall: They eat ewephant food.
Me: Oh, I see.
Kendall: And tigers don't eat weaves, either. And they don't eat ewephant food. Tigers never eat anyning.

I Do, Do You?

Have your Christmas decorations up, that is. Last year, I was really unmotivated to put up decorations...maybe that was because I had a newborn, and we had gone to Florida for Thanksgiving, and I was stressed at the thought of travelling with two babies across the country, so I didn't want to think about decorating a house. Or maybe not, who knows?

Anyways, this year, I have definitely been in the Christmas spirit! I really do love decorating for Christmas, so I was glad to see that the spirit hit me this year.

A couple of weeks ago, while Grant was on a solo trip to Ikea, he came back with something for me - which is a very rare thing, which is what also made it so special! He knows I love Christmas decorations, and when he saw this set of Christmas trees, he thought of me.



I absolutely love them! Don't they look kind of Dr. Seussy? I think so.

I might put pictures up of other decorations, but right now, the house is kind of in disarray, and not very picture-worthy. But our tree sure looks pretty!



I had a little elf help me. Not this elf, though...He's just here to keep an eye on us.



Something about that elf on the shelf and the books behind him just makes me laugh.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're still looking forward to an awesome Thanksgiving dinner with some friends this evening. My contribution is this yummy sweet potato casserole...



...and fried okra that has yet to be cooked. I'll be introducing a bunch of Californians to the Southern treat, so I hope they like it!

I'm thankful for so many things, but in particular - my wonderful husband, my two sweet daughters, the beautiful weather, and special friends that we get to spend the evening with. I'm also thankful for the rest of my family in Florida, South Carolina, and Iraq. I wish we could be with everyone!

Kendall Speak - Part 5

I was pretending to eat Kendall's side, and Grant was "eating" her foot. We told her how yummy she was and she said, "I not yummy! I taste tewible!"

Kendall tried to give me some candy and I said, "No thanks, I'm not hungry right now." She said, "Yes you are!" Then she put her ear to my stomach and said, "I hear your tummy grummin'!" (that's grumbling, by the way).

When we were at the beach in Oxnard a few weeks ago, Kendall wanted her sand toys to play with. I told her I forgot them at home. She was quiet for a few seconds, then she asked where Target was.

One afternoon, after a very short nap, Kendall came downstairs. I said, "Kendall, did you sleep? I don't think you slept." She said, "Yeah! I sleep tight!" (Referring to when we tell her to sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite).

Epic

Try to follow me here...

When we lived in Albuquerque, we became very close friends with Brent and Edie. They had previously lived in Los Angeles, and we now attend the church that they used to attend. So we're friends with people that they were friends with. Got it?

Also while we were in Albuquerque, we were friends with Andy and Megan (who now live in San Diego) and Oliver and Summer (who now live in Michigan). Got that?

Rewind about a year...I'm at church here in California, and Florianne (a mutual friend of mine and Edie's) said that Edie was turning 40 next year, and we should all go out and surprise her. I told her I was in!

So for the past year, there has been preparations for this epic surprise. And epic it was!

Most of the planning has happened just over the last few months. Megan and I were planning on flying out from California, and we were planning on staying with Summer, who was still in Albuquerque at the time. Summer told me there may be a chance that her family was moving to Michigan, so we would need to have a back up plan as far as a place to stay. But she assured me that if they moved, she would still come out for the surprise. That did happen, so we made arrangements to stay with someone else, and Summer booked a ticket to Albuquerque.

Are you following? I feel like I need a chart.

Marchelle, who is another mutual friend of Edie's who lives here in California, booked the same flight as me. Florianne, Deb, and another Kelly all planned to drive to Albuquerque from California.

I definitely need a chart.

In the meantime, I'm the link between the "Albuquerque people" and the "California people," since I'm the one that actually knew everyone involved. There was a secret Facebook page, Facebook chats, Facebook messages, emails, phone conversations...ALOT of communication!

Summer came up with a pretty elaborate plan to surprise Edie. I can't remember what she named it, but it was something like the "Magical Mall Surprise." And that's what it was!

The day of Edie's birthday, we were all going to one of the malls in Albuquerque where all of the out-of-towners were going to be spread throughout. Susan (an Albuquerque person, and the one who's house me, Megan, and Summer ended up staying at) found a way to get Edie and her kids to the mall. They first went to Forever 21, which is where Marchelle was. Then it was the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, where Florianne was handing out chocolate. About that time, Boo (Edie's 10 year old son) said something to the effect of, "This is getting kinda creepy). Then they came to Aeropostale, where I jumped out behind a couple of mannequins. Then it was on to a kiosk outside of American Eagle, where Megan was trying on sunglasses, and Deb was a mannequin in the window of American Eagle. Then we went to some kind of strange store where they sold belly dancing outfits, and the other Kelly came out from the back. Then we went to storytime at Barnes and Noble, where Summer was reading to some random (scared?) little girl. Each time Edie came across one of us, she was super surprised! Oh, and Erika (another Albuquerque girl) was dressed in disguise, and she hopped around to all of the places with a camcorder, to document all of the surprises.

After meeting up with Summer, we promised Edie that was the end of the surprises, and we wanted to take her to dinner. Little did she know, that we had reserved the private room at Savoy Bar & Grill, and there was a whole bunch of local people there to surprise her, as well!

What we realized throughout this process, is that for a group of Christians, we are really good liars! That's usually not a good thing, but it came in handy for this elaborate plan.

The next day, after everything had settled down, Edie got a few more surprises - Joanna and Jana, two of Florianne's daughters flew in from California. She also got a great little scrapbook that Marchelle put together, with pictures and messages from friends from all over.

Needless to say, I don't think anyone will or can ever top this!

A fun little fact that we came up with while we were all together - the number of kids represented by all of us who were there with Edie was 28!

It was a great weekend. Edie and I are now not the links bridging everyone together - all of the "Albuquerque people" and the "California people" are now friends, which is a great thing! There were a few Albuquerque people who had moved away and weren't able to make it for various reasons, but everyone who didn't make it was thought about and talked about and missed!

For some of us, it was the first time we left our kids behind. I personally thought it would be difficult, and the night before I left, I was a little bit of a wreck. But while I was there, I never really had the urge to be home. I fully enjoyed my time away!

I hope this all made sense. If it didn't, that's okay - just enjoy some pictures...

Life and Death

Yesterday, we celebrated Cami's 1st birthday! I didn't want to have a full-on party, but I did want to do something special. So I ended up just inviting Melissa and the girls over for dinner. I had thrown a baby shower the day before for a friend who's having a girl, and I made these pink and brown butterfly decorations. I'm cheap, so I decided to keep those up for Cami's birthday.

The menu consisted of:

Crostini with Brie, Dates, and Toasted Walnuts
Baked Orzo with Shrimp, Lemon, and Feta
Green Beans with Tomatoes and Balsamic
and
Dark Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes for dessert

These were all new recipes for me, and everything turned out great, but for me, the stand out was the crostini. I even took a picture of them!



The cupcakes were also good. It was from my new "Simply Sweet" dessert cookbook from Pampered Chef, and it's a nice twist on a molten cake. The gooey middle comes from sticking a chocolate truffle inside the cupcake when they come out of the oven.

We had a good time. Kendall and Mookie were silly, as usual. And even though we didn't have family there, it really turned out to be a nice, memorable celebration. Although, we did Skype with a few family members, so that was nice.











Today, we're remembering the second anniversary of Ryan's death (Grant's younger brother). He would've been 19, and in his second year of college. I found these old pictures from when Grant's family visited us in Albuquerque in either 03 or 04, so Ryan was either 12 or 13.







And I don't know when this was written, but it's evident that Ryan really looked up to his big brothers. I think Grant's mom sent this to us after he died.



This sounds so cliche, but it's true - only God knows why Ryan died so young. We will never understand why, but we have to remember that it was part of God's plan. However, we can be comforted knowing that Ryan was a follower of Christ. 1 Thessalonian 4:13-18 says:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.