Hooray for the Weekend!!

I am so ready for the weekend! So far today was an excellent day, I felt pretty good and even have ENERGY! (I think I might vaccuum our living room tonight...but then go straight to bed because I'll be exhausted after one room.) Allison brought over our first baby gift tonight - onesies and a swaddling blanket. It kind of made me realize ~ I'm going to have a baby! It's hit me, but I don't think it's hit me yet. I was really excited - mostly just to see Allison! It's been a long time.

Tomorrow I am going to Cuppie's & Joe with some friends for the first time. I can't wait - I hear it's an excellent place to just hang out.

Then on Saturday, lunch with JENNIFER LAIR!! It's been forever since I've seen her (crazy girl moved back to Montana) and I can not wait!

Hope you have a great weekend!

The Pic

It's really in there!! We saw and heard the heartbeat yesterday and this is our second glimpse of "the bean." So small, yet wreaking so much havoc! :)

Introducing "Bean"

I promise that I did not turn into a lazy, reality tv addict just for the fun of it.

I promise that all skipped BK's and Sunday evening churches have been for a reason.

I promise to try harder not to cry at silly cartoon movies or meaningless commercials.

I promise to work through my nausea all through the day in hopes that one day I will want to eat again.

Because when this baby comes in December, it will be all worth it.

Marathon Memories

Today was the big day! The one that Justin has been pseudo training for for the last few months. We both got an early start - 5:17 a.m. is about the time I rolled out of bed. Justin had been up already and was pretty much turning cartwheels with all the adrenaline he had going. David and Laura met us at our house and Dusty and Peyton came to pick us all up in an Excursion. Oh yea, we totally all fit. That is a big piece of car. We made it downtown in plenty of time and dropped the marathon runners off and went to find a spot. It was so pretty to see the Memorial in the slowly rising morning - but alas all my pictures were blurry so you'll just have to envision the glory. I think the announcer for the start of the marathon had about 20 cups of coffee by the time we got there...he was super perky and super loud.

The start of the race! If you look JUST right (left of hat reflector), you can see Justin in the red shirt, Peyton in the purple/pink and David in the blue.

We tracked them down at about mile 5. Going strong! Here comes Justin!!!

He actually stopped and waved so I could take this picture - and it's blurry. Keep going, J!

David and Peyton still running together. You can kind of see Peyton raising her hand in a wave.

Some random girl in a tutu. Hey, whatever it takes to stand out, right?

Rounding out mile 9 with a smile...still lookin' pretty good!

Justin haulin' to the finish line. Looks pretty beat, but he is so close to finishing.

His official time was 1:56:35. I am so proud of him - his goal was about 2 hours. Pretty awesome for his first 1/2 marathon.

You know you can't run 13+ miles without leaving your butt sweat mark somewhere.

Fellow friends and marathon completers. These runners did awesome today!

David, Peyton & Justin - our hero 1/2 marathon runners of the day! I know a lot of people ran today - we cheered on the ones we saw! Hope everyone had a great time.

I <3 Dave

Tonight we went to see Dave Ramsey's live broadcast "Townhall for Hope" with Blake, Peyton & Dusty. It was great to hear him speak regarding our current economy and what we, as Americans, can do to change it. I absolutely love Dave Ramsey, I love his "get out of debt" principles (I love them because they have proven true for our life), and I love his love for God. What he spoke on was basically that we can NOT rely on government to bail this country out, NOT to panic during this economic time, and that WE need to do something about it. Something DR said tonight was "the best place to go if you're broke, go to work." And I think that is true. We feel better about ourselves when we are giving of our time and efforts and I bet you a million dollars that if you go down and help at the soup kitchen and see the lives of the homeless in our area, you will feel a lot better about your own situation. Like church was all about on Sunday, get involved and volunteer somewhere! Anyway, I love that DR ended with the fact that what we ultimately need to put our hope in is Jesus Christ and the fact that he died for us.

I'll get off my soap box now. :)

Little Lessons

Awhile back someone sent me this list through email and I hung it on my wall at work so I can read it and remember these little lessons that are so important, yet can be easily forgotten! I wish I had the author who wrote these - just know I'm not smart enough to come up with these myself :)

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s okay to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others’. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry, God doesn’t blink.
16. Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living or get busy dying.
17.You can get through anything if you stay put in today.
18. A writer writes. If you want to be a writer, write.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else. 20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare and then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except for you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: “In five years, will this matter?”
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone, everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
36. Growing old beats the alternative – dying young.
37. Your children only get one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. Read the Psalms. They cover every human emotion.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.
41. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
42. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
43. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
44. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
45. The best is yet to come.
46. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
47. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
48. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
49. Yield.
50. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.

“May the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you.” Numbers 6:24

I have run out of fun things to blog about and it shows. Lately Justin and I have not been up to a lot and all of my creative juices have disappeared. So, I guess this post will be an "ode to randomness."

-We went to a wedding yesterday and had a great time. We saw lots of people from church that we knew and so it wasn't awkward like most weddings are when you only know the couple getting married.

-I cleaned my kitchen today and took out the trash. If you saw my house, you'd know it had been awhile. My next project will be to clean the kitchen floor. That might be for next weekend. :)

-I need to finish a project for my mom - making a song book collage with a big "P" in the middle for her. In fact, I need to start this project.

-I'm tired of my work. There has been some huge drama lately at my job and although it only affects me a little, I'm tired of the politics and crap going on. I just want to do my job, get paid and go home.

-We watched Bolt yesterday for the first time. Very cute movie, I loved Mittens the cat (of course I would. I LOVE cats!)

-Justin is running in the half marathon next weekend. We just found out that the race starts at 6:30. AM. Um, what?

-I spent my Kohl's ($20) cash yesterday and was able to get a sweater AND three pairs of earrings. What a deal!!

-I'm ready for warmer weather. I did not care for the hail storm that hit my car yesterday evening (no damage, thanks to plastic Saturns!) or the cold wind that was blowing today. Hurry up, Spring!

I'm Busy Every Night!

My weekly agenda.

Sunday: Extreme Makeover Home Edition
Monday: Dancing with the Stars
Tuesday: The Biggest Loser/Dancing with the Stars
Wednesday: Law & Order(s)
Thursday: 30 Rock, The Office, My Name is Earl
Friday: Super Nanny

Where am I supposed to find the time to get the dishes done, clean the bathrooms, vacuum the carpets or cook dinner (even though we have easy recipes now). What's a girl to do?! Maybe I should quit my job so I can get the "chores" done. Or so I can become addicted to daytime television.

Easy-ness

I hate cooking...but I have fallen in love. With this website. Kraft foods is my new hero because I found this!!

1 bag, 5 dinners. It shows you four easy recipes for each weeknight, all the ingredients for a handy shopping list (which should fit into one shopping bag - so clever) and you get pizza on Friday! Normally when Justin and I get home, it's such a struggle to want to make something. But with this - easy as pie!! Dinner isn't as stressful anymore! Whew.

Happy Easter!

Yesterday we got together with my mom's side of the family and celebrated Easter while we knew it would be a nice day. I don't know the official count, but there was probably around 30 of us, and that's not even the whole fam! I am a slacker though and did not bring my camera. It was nice though to hang out with cousins and aunts and uncles for the day. We had a yummy brisket and we apparently all like dishes with broccoli and so there was plenty of all varieties of broccoli salad. The kids had a good time hunting Easter eggs and this was my nephew's first year that he understood the concept. He did good and enjoyed opening the eggs to find candy inside!

Today on actual Easter, we went to church and then came home and did nothing! I wasn't feeling too good so Justin was a great husband and ran errands for me and let me rest all day. Since it was rainy and yucky outside, I had no problem with that! :)

What did you do for Easter?

JSO Retreat

We had such a good time at the retreat this weekend for JSO!! It was great to get away from our normal routine and to hear Eddie and Sonya speak. They were inspiring, helpful and just plain practical. We need more of that in our lives. Saturday some of us decided to go for a hike/walk. Miranda Lawrence is my new hero because she did this hike in ballet slippers. This picture below is hilarious to me because it was SOO stinkin windy and there is no way you can get around that in this picture. We are all wind blown!

We reached the top!!

Peyton and I trying not to fly off the "mountain."

After we reached the top, three of us decided to turn around and go back the way we came and I'm glad we did!! The rest of the group decided to continue on and they ended up walking over all of the mountain tops to get down!! That just wears me out thinking about it.

View from the top.

This is our room - I think we were 1 of 3 couples who didn't get the king size and instead got the two fulls. Separate beds for Justin and I!

Except MY comforter had a gross "skid mark" of some sort on it. I thought it was disgusting but you know what, I still slept there.

Justin and some crazy guys got up for the sunrise Sunday morning. It was like 20 degrees!! I tried to stay in bed and sleep but Justin woke me up with the alarm, then unknown to me, he forgot his sweatshirt, so he came back but his door key didn't work. So I heard someone sliding their key in our lock but I didn't know it was him. I was SOO SCARED. I thought someone was trying to come in and rob us! Finally I heard a quiet, "Erin!!" So I rescued him from the hallway and gave him my extra sweatshirt. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep after that.
Sunday communion. These are the coolest things I have ever seen. The "bread" and juice come in one container! I say "bread" but I kind of mean styrofoam.

All in all, it was a great weekend. It was a lot of fun to hang out with others from our class. I think we should do it more often. :)

Landscaping in the Dark

It's out!! All that remains of our water softener. It reminds me of a life size scuba Steve outfit. Justin pulled this out all by himself...I think he almost gave himself a hernia. That thing is heavy.

SO now that we had that out of the way, I was trying to envision what I wanted our flower bed to look like...so this is what I came up with.

Last night we decided that it was time to go buy the plants that we wanted...and by the time we got home, the sun was starting to go down. But does that stop us? No way :) We kept on planting our new plants, fertilizing, rearranging the stones and watering - all in the dark. Luckily our across the street neighbors have bright outdoor lights, so they were very helpful. Everyone who drove by (because we are on the main road) probably thought we are absolutely crazy "playing" in the dirt at night. They are probably right. Anyway, here is the side view...(SOOO much better without that huge ugly box)

And here is the view from the front. This time we got hardy plants that like the shade so we are hopeful they will grow and fill out more!! I'll also plant some pretty colorful flowers to really fill it in.

It already looks a ton better - in my humble opinion. Now that this is done, let's tackle the backyard!! I can already see Justin jumping. for. joy.

We are off for our bible class retreat this weekend - I am pretty excited about it! Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Please Note

Please note:

It is always wise to check the expiration date on the soup can before opening and eating for lunch. Luckily, I am super smart and noticed the black potatoes after eating two whole spoonfuls. My tummy will definitely thank me later.

Ughhh.