Thanksgiving Festivities

We're comin off of a family high this week. We had Zach's mom here for 4 days, then a day later we had my dad and stepmom here for 5 days. Phew! It was so, so fun to be with them, especially for Thanksgiving!

As usual, our time with them was filled lots of laughs, food, movies, and coffee. My dad is Starbucks obessessed.  He spoils me with a trip to Starbucks literally everyday that he is here.  And now I feel like a druggy trying to cope with not going every.single.day. Lord help me!

We had a FEAST for Thanksgiving. And it included my first homemade lemon meringue pie. I was so proud, cause it was GOOD!

Too bad the Cowboys didn't win...

PS. baby update soon....17 weeks and counting :)

Ohio Wedding Pics!

To follow up on this post...here is a photo dump from our last trip to Ohio. We were there for Zach's littlest sister's wedding. 1st I cannot believe that Olivia is MARRIED and 2nd I'm so happy for her and Yanni and 3rd it was SO good to see all of Zach's family!  His parents are officially empty-nesters and our neice is officially growing up too fast. Time flies when everyone lives states away!

Congrats Liv and Yanni!!

                  

 

 

And here is our cutie little neice Aeralyn. She is 8 months old now!

 

Brother Love

It's good to reflect on life and everything in it every so often. Usually this happens late at night on the weekend because those days I get to sleep in, which makes it possible to stay up late. And it entails me spending quiet time on my couch or bed when it's dark, with small lamp on, by myself, a journal + pen or laptop + microsoft word. Those are good times.

I went through my entire blog. The entire thing. And before I knew it was 12:30am, WOAH! But it was great. I laughed out loud at some posts and smiled at others, even though I had wrote them and knew what was in them already. Reading all of them made me so grateful that I've kept this blog and documented our life because it is fantastic to look back and 1. Remeber the good times 2. Remember what I have learned 3. Be encouarged by where God's brought us and probably a lot more things that I can't remember now because I never stay up that late.

In the spirit of being thankful I documented the things I did, I have to document this because I want to remember it.

Those two good lookin' people would be my mama and my brother, Greg @ Country in the Park this weekend. Greg, you love on our mama enough for the 3 of us and I'm so thankful you're close by and do everything you do with her since Andrew and are far away at the moment.  You're the best son {I'm just guessing what mom would say ;)} and best brother. Love you forever. And mostly because of the hick shirt you're shamelessly wearing.

Proud Sister

My stepbrother Jacob graduated from boot camp yesterday in Columbia, SC. He's officially a soldier in the US Army! Congrats Jacob!

All four of my brothers are now in the military, serving & protecting our country. I am so very proud of them. Military life isn't for the faint-hearted....I'm so thankful that they're courageous enough to choose the paths they have. Thankfully they are all safe and on American soil today.

Gregory (2nd from the left) joined the Airforce right after high school. We went to see him graduate boot camp in San Antonio, TX in 2005. He's been stationed in Italy, where I regretfully didn't get to visit him! He's also been in AZ and now @ Travis AFB outside of Sacramento, CA. He's single ladies! ;)

Erich joined the Army next. He graduated from bootcamp in Missouri, spent some time in Korea, and now he's stationed @ Fort Carson in CO.

Andrew, the oldest of us all, joined the Navy in 2010 and graduated from boot camp @ Great Lakes Naval Base...ironically enough not too far away from where my mom grew up in Illinois. He's now stationed with his wife and son in Kings Bay, GA.  And he just got back from being on the submarine for the past 90+ days!

AJ seeing daddy after Andrew graduated boot camp, 2010

Being scattered across the country isn't ideal and I wish it was easier to spend time together, but at the end of the day we're all where we're supposed to be and I am thankful that we're all safe and sound, living blessed lives. Love you Andrew, Gregory, Jacob & Erich!

Family Up North

I got the special pleasure to see some of my family this weekend; and didn't even have to go anywhere! They were all up here in Seattle to take off on an Alaskan Cruise....so we shared some breakfast and time in the car together before they left. So fun to visit!

Truth to speak

At work we have this cool thing that happens every other week—we get together and watch an Andy Stanley teaching. Right now we’re going through his series called Guardrails. It has been REALLY encouraging, inspiring, thought provoking, and challenging.

One thing that Andy said last week that caught my heart was “Kids are a welcome addition, but you are already a family.” (talking about married people and about a marriage centered family, opposed to a kid centered family.)

WIth that statement rolling around in my brain, thinking about Zach and I and our future kids, I collected the following scriptures while reading my word this morning. Scriptures that pertain to us....my family. Grab 'em for your family, too!

But they're verses that I want to pray over us. Verses that are promises from the Lord or ways to raise our kids or things to strive for as individuals and as a family. Verses that I want to live my life by and teach my kids someday. Verses that I want to describe us.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6



The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. Proverbs 22:7 (don't incur debt, or get outta debt)


Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15

Do you see a man who excels at his work? He will stand before kinds, he will not stand before unknown men. Proverbs 22:29 (translation: hard work pays off!)



Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words or knowledge. Proverbs 23:12 



Do not withhold correction from a child. For if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. You shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell. Proverbs 23:13-14 (NKJV)

Okay, I am not going to abuse my kids. The Message version is a good, modern translation for this verse: Don't be afraid to correct your young ones; a spanking won't kill them. A good spanking, in fact, might save them from something worse than death. Proverbs 23:13-14

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day. Proverbs 23:18

Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Proverbs 24:3-4

For a righteous man may fall 7 times and rise again. Proverbs 24:16

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Proverbs 24:17

As I noted all of these for future reference, I thought, "wouldn't it be great to start a collection of these verses as I run across them and put them into some kind of book?"

YEAH!

More like a dedicated file on my laptop! :)

Before I got married, I didn't have my own family, But now that I am married...Zach and I have to make decisions on what our family will be, what our standards will be, what we will and won't do, what we will and won't say. I think these things are just as important now as they are when we have little ones. 


Andy Stanley also said this: "Nobody plans to mess up really bad. But most don't plan not to."

Boise Trip!

Our weekend consisted of FAMILY!, driving, and lots of fun and food!

(That little clump of yellow is me :( Shortly before I was killed off)

We took off on Friday afternoon to Boise to see Zach's sister, her husband, and baby!  We got to see Aeralyn back in March when she was about two and a half months old. It was so much fun to see how she's grown and all of the new tricks she's learned; smiling, giggling, holding her head up, rolling onto her tummy. She is the sweetest!

It was so refreshing and fun to be with Alexa and Brendon this weekend! It is always so sweet to spend time with our familiy.

As we pulled out of the driveway on Monday morning and waved bye to them a well of emotions, that is pretty easily provoked, sprung up inside of me.  I was hit with this sadness. My heart just hurt for how much I miss simple things that we don't have right now like having dinner with my parents or going out to lunch after church on Sundays with the whole fam or calling up my cousins to come over or some day having grandma or grandpa watch my babies. 

At this point, self pity kind of engulfed me and I ask God about 100 times why I still live 700 miles away from my family.  

After whining for awhile I had to turn that self pity train around and be thankful for the good things. Sometimes I have to really search for these, haha! But, I always find them because in all of the I wish's that can happen, I know we're right where we should be and I'm thankful that we live driving distance from Brendon & Alexa and my family. I am thankful that we have the money to go there a couple of times a year. I am thankful that i have family to begin with. I am thankful for facetime.

Its always been easy to go and hard to stay for me. Go is my middle name. In the past I’ve wrestled and rebelled when God said stay instead of go. I wrestle with it sometimes still, but I am embracing it and am learning that there are blessings and beauty in staying.

Every time I think about getting up or get the itch to go instead of stay, I am reminded that my life is not my own and I do not want to go somewhere that god hasn’t yet prepared for me.

Plus, Olympia DID give me this hottie......

Thanksgiving

Because Zach's fam is from Ohio and mine is from Cali, the holidays aren't the way they used to be. But, we've learned that growing up does sometimes mean adapting to new things and new traditions while cherishing the memories of old. So, my dad and stepmom Ann have made it a 2 year running tradtion to spend Thanksgiving up here in the cold with us!

And we had a full on Thanksgiving feast at our apartment for the four of us. But accidently cooked for about 8!

It's amazing what marriage can do to you in the area of cooking.Three years ago you would've found me bringing nothing to the Thanksgiving table and now you can find me making the whole meal. So, for those of you who are like the pre-married me; its okay, there's hope.

We decided to have turkey and ham, so the 1 oven thing became an issue. So, I decided to find a crock pot turkey recipe. Now before you crinkle your nose and gasp "ew" just read and try! It was DELISH. Fell right off the bone and was so moist. Reccomend it for sure.

1 (6 pound) bone-in turkey breast

1 (1 ounce) envelope dry onion soup mix

Rinse the turkey breast and pat dry. Cut off any excess skin, but leave the skin covering the breast. Rub onion soup mix all over outside of the turkey and under the skin. Place in the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on High for 1 hour, then set to Low, and cook for 7 hours. (yup its THAT easy).

Credit where credit is due: www.allrecipes.com

Overall it was a fabulous, relaxing, fun weekend filled with family--which is always a joy.