Out and About

Here are some photos of our latest outing to a park nearby. Enjoyed being outside with the family. Hayden seemed to enjoy herself. So thankful that she doesn't mind getting dirty every now and then. Love her so much.

Off on our first trail as a family.
Resting in the shade.
Trails can be tricky. She handled them like a champ though.
Hydration is key.
I'm taking a photography class right now and this would be considered framing your subject. Learning a lot and loving my "homework".
Looking over into the creek that we will play in come spring time. Ty wanted to go down there so bad and romp in the water.
After our nature walk we played at the park. She's a happy girl.
Thought we would end the afternoon with a sweet treat. Hayden has her eye on the prize in this shot. Sad though, there wasn't anything for a dollar. Note to self... always have at least 5 dollars in cash on you. Thankfully Hayden didn't know the difference. We enjoyed being together as a family and looking forward to the other outings coming up this Fall. Have I mentioned I love this time of year.

And....

Just wanted to get the news out there... Chris and I are so excited and wanted to share our news with you!

White Christmas

For Christmas this year we headed up to Denver to spend a week with Chris' family. We had a great time just relaxing and enjoying the white Christmas, even though it sounds like Dallas got one too. We enjoyed the constant snow for a few days and appreciated the warmth of Dan and Meghan's house along with all of the warm cozy clothes we packed.

I really haven't traveled by air too much so close to the holidays, I didn't really know what to expect. To my suprise the lines weren't crazy at all and we actually managed to get to our flight on time. Luckily the trip up there and back wasn't bad at all, much better than a 12 hour drive in the ice and snow, that's for sure.

This Christmas was a special one, we enjoyed celebrating it with the newest addition to the family, Mr. Ben. It was so fun to just watch him and be entertained by him all week long. It gave me confidence that Chris and I can handle a new born, Chris was a pro at burping him and putting him down, I just enjoyed watching him. And as I've been told "babies change your life"... who knew... The rest of the week was spent eating most of all, watching movies, and of course you can't have a holiday with the Shacks without destroying something. Chris, Dan, and Bob got to demolish/retrofit Dan and Meghan's front porch while trying to hang a porch swing for them. It looks great, and we can't wait to see the final product. Leave it up to Chris to start demoing something and then leave town...

On one of the last days up in Denver we got the chance to go sledding with another family from their church. It was a blast! I hadn't been sledding since I was super little and that was on a cardboard box at Angelfire. We enjoyed the fun trips down the hill and dreaded the up hill climb, but it was all worth it. We got some videos of it too, but I'll have to share those later since I haven't gotten those yet. Hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2009

I know I am a little behind in posting this, considering it's almost Christmas, but I'm trying to catch you up...This was the year that we decided to have Thanksgiving at our place. You know with the whole renovation we wanted show off what all we had accomplished as well as utilize the space we had retro-fitted. My mom and I spent a whole Saturday planning and shopping which was a lot of fun, who knew all of the little secrets to get things done and on the table. We took out all of our dishes and silverware which was super fun, at least for me. We’d only used it once before and that was on Valentine’s Day this year.

We ended up having my parents, my Nan, Chris’ parents and their friend Christine come over for Thanksgiving lunch. My mom and dad came over early in the morning to help start out the day and the morning just progressed without a hitch. Everything was on the table ready to be eaten at 1:15. Hey only 15 minutes late, not bad for my first time. So as Chris was carving the turkey like a great host he found that I actually didn’t get all of the “goodies” for lack of a better term out of the bird. Oops, but thank goodness it didn’t ruin the turkey.

We enjoyed our time with family and friends and had a lot to be thankful for this year, we are truly blessed. It was also fun to explain everything to Christine who is from China and over here at seminary for Christian counseling. For example, my favorite: Why do you call a turkey a bird? Response: "Because it’s a bird."

Auntie Em & Uncle Chris

Don't be alarmed... this is not Baby Shack...wanted to share that we are a new Aunt and Uncle. That’s right; Chris’ sister Meghan and Brother-in-law had our new sweet nephew, Benjamin Ian Bruner on November 4th. He was 8lbs 13 oz, so he was healthy baby boy. We had planned a trip up to Denver way back in the spring when Southwest had a sale. So in mid-November we made the trek up to Denver to visit and help out where we could with the little guy. We had a blast just relaxing and piddling around the house. They recently did some work on their house so it was a lot of fun to see the finished product. And of course it was fun to get a taste of what parenthood with a new born looks like, a little scary, but fun all at the same time. We can’t wait to see them again soon and catch up. Now we are just going to have to battle our kids wanting to always go up to Denver to see their Aunt and Uncle and cousin.

New Addition...

Surprise to those of you who don’t know yet…. Chris and I are pregnant! We are so thrilled and excited to meet this little one. Baby Shack is due May 23, 2010. Yes, that means I am about 16 weeks along. Everything has been pretty smooth sailing besides the whole morning sickness every now and then. We are so pumped for this new adventure God has in store for us and we can’t wait to experience raising a child of God and truly teaching a little one to know Christ and what it means to have a relationship with Him.

We are truly blessed and are just so excited to meet him or her. So for now the only update is that Baby Shack sure likes to move around a lot, we’ve heard the heart beat and even got a free sonogram where we could see him or her; which was really neat and mind blowing all at the same time. Of course since I am a type A person we are going to plan to find out the gender, and sadly we are going to have to wait until January 5th to hopefully find that out. (I hope he or she cooperates) I only say sadly because I had Christmas gifts pending on knowing the gender. More updates to follow…

Foodie Finds

Now you might be asking why in the world are all of these random photos shown above...

This past weekend we headed up to OKC to spend some time with Meghan and Dan. We headed up there after work, and of course I was starving by the time we got in that neck of the woods. We meet Meghan and Dan and their friends Gabe and Megan at Sushi-Neko. It was this fun little hole in the wall that served sushi of course. We really enjoy going to new places and trying new things, I was just thankful the waitress offered me a fork. Nothings worse than being really hungry and not being able to get the roll in your mouth. Let's just say me and the chopsticks don't get along too well. Chris and I tried the Spider Rolls and the Red Dragon rolls, both were really tasty and beautiful on the plate. We sat out on the patio which was great, OKC was about 20+/- degrees cooler than Dallas. After we finished up at the restaurant Meghan and Dan took us to this fun place called Cupies and Joe. It is basically a really cute chic coffee house built in their old stomping grounds. The cupcakes were delicious and I just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere there.

Saturday we helped throw a baby BBQ for Dan, Meghan, and Little Ben on Saturday which was a lot of fun. We cooked out at Dan's moms house for about 30 of their closest friends. It was so fun to be included and we truly enjoyed haning out with everyone. We actually stayed there and I just admired her house all weekend long. She has such great taste and has tons of amazing artwork that tells a story. That night we had a wedding to go to, so of course we went to that, and of course my ride wanted to leave before cake. I told them as long as we could go back to Cupies and Joe I would be alright with it. So we headed back to Cupies and Joe and I tried yet another sampling of cupcakes. They were just SO yummy!

Sunday we headed off to church and then out to lunch to an Oklahoma pizza joint called Hideaway. They have all kinds of fun pizzas to try and it's just a fun atmosphere. They have one in Norman that we went to in college alot. It was fun to reminese on the good ole days.

Anyways all of that to say, we enjoyed our weekend with family and the fun foodie finds that we found. *tongue twister* We will be sure to visit them next time we're in town.

July 4th

For the fourth we decided to get out of dodge and spend some time with Chris' parents. It was so great to get away for a few days, and well needed that's for sure. We both got off early which was a huge plus since it is probably one of the busiest evenings for people traveling to their vacation spots. P.S. 121 isn't complete like we thought. :(

My goal for the weekend was to relax catch up on my magazines and eat all of Nancy's great food. Chris' goal for the weekend was to go fishing, and fishing he went every day twice a day. Chris and his dad headed out around 5:30 every morning and were back by 9:30am. They caught their limit both days, which is a crazy amount. Here are some pictures of all of the fish. Ty had a close encounter with one of them, he was really confused.



We, yes I said we... I even went fishing with them one evening to one of the neighbors ponds. Chris set me up with a pole and so I started to cast, meanwhile Chris caught two fish. He always does so good. All I was catching was the moss on the bottom of the pond and an occasional tree every now and then. But one time I cast it by these trees which is supposedly where the fish hide, or so Chris says. Anyways so I start reeling my line in and it feels kind of heavy, I think to myself, great I finally caught a fish! As my rod starts bending Chris is getting excited that I caught a larger fish... well it gets to the surface and guess what it was. Not a fish, not a boot, but a turtle. Yes, I foul hooked an innocent turtle, don't worry though he survived all 8 lbs of him. No pictures though, we were too busy trying to get the hook out and laughing our heads off.

On the fourth we ended up having our own little fish fry with the fish Chris and Bob had caught earlier in the weekend. The fish fry turned out great, then we headed out to the lake to watch some fireworks. We watched all of the different firework shows going off around the lake. I tell ya, if you've never watched fireworks from the lake, I reccommend it. Everybody has their own little show, and the house we were at had an amazing jam packed fireworks extravaganza. Here are some pictures... We tried like 5 times to get a picture as a family, however Chris' mom always shuts her eyes. So this was the last picture where she was really trying to keep them open.

Splish Splash

This past weekend we got to take Ty swimming. My aunt and uncle were so nice in offering up their pool. So Chris and I got our first round of rays for the summer all while sharing the pool with Ty and their pup Shiloh. It was so cute to see Ty in the water and his curiosity. He's been in the lake before a while back, so he just had to get used to it again and he was good to go. He really really liked the fountain at my Aunt and Uncle's.

Trip to Houston

Well we had yet another trip to Houston last weekend, there was a conglomeration of things to celebrate. I still had to give Val her gift for Mother's Day, Grant had his baby dedication, and Val and Justin's 6th Anniversary was this past weekend.

Chris and I headed down on Friday night and actually got there at a decent time and avoided the chaos that is Houston traffic. Funny thing... we were driving and saw all of these signs for wild flower areas. The sign said " Wild Flower Area... No Mowing" Well right beside the sign were two tractor mowers and mowing clippings. We both thought of that email going around "FAILED". Anyways we had a fun time riding down there. We were able to spend Friday night with Val and Justin before all of the parents came down for the weekend. We had a great time cathing up.

Saturday we just hung out and played Wii for most of the day. Justin got us hooked on a game called Boom Blox Bash, it was super fun, I think I'm addicted. Got the chance to play with the little guy some too, he has his first tooth coming in so he was more cranky than usual. Mom and Dad got there right after dinner time, so we just hung out for a while.

Sunday we went to Bedside Baptist, well we watched the video service of Val and Justin's church. Grant got to open up some of his gifts before we headed down to the church for the dedication ceremony. He's a little reader, I tell ya... I was reading to him and he already knows how to turn the pages. What a good helper. We had to be at the church early that afternoon for the baby dedication so we loaded up and headed down. The ceremony was short, simple, and sweet; which is always a good thing with so many little ones in the same room. If one started crying, talking, or making noises they all started. We had to head back home early since we had to work on Monday while the grandparents stayed and enjoyed a nice dinner and some more of Grant.

Thanks Val and Justin for a great weekend. Hope to see you soon.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year was a lot of fun. Chris and I met up with his mom and extended family at the Blue Mesa grill for the popular Sunday brunch. But we didn't stay there for too long when they told us it would be an hour and a half if we were lucky before we got seated. I was famished since it was already 10:00 and had nothing in my system. And Chris as my witness, I'm not super nice when I haven't eaten anything... We headed over to the Cheescake factory for Sunday brunch over there. Who knew, I didn't know they had brunch. I ened up having the French Toast Napoleon, it was fabulous and HUGE. I always forget about the portions there. We enjoyed spending our morning with Momma Shack.

After the great breakfast we headed home to pick Ty up so my parents could get their puppy fix. We headed over to there place for a nice relaxing afternoon. Dad and I along with my Dad's mom took Ty for a walk around their neighborhood and to play in the park. He was zonked when we got back to the house. When we got back we had the chance to visit with my sister and nephew and crazy brother-in-law via video. (some technical program) Anyways we got to watch Grant crawl, and I've got to tell ya, he is quick on his knees.(or belly I should say)It was fun to see her on her first Mother's Day, you could just tell she was enjoying her day. We had dinner at my parents after we caught up with Val and enjoyed catching up with them and reminiscing over old times.

We loved spending our Sunday with our moms, they truly are an inspiration and we thank them both for all they have done for us.

Gone Fishin'

Chris had the opportunity to go bass fishing with his dad yesterday out on Lake Fork. His dad ended up winning a day with a professional guide out on the lake and Thursday was the day. So Chris left our place around 5:30am in order to meet his dad and the guide for their day -O- FUN.

They got on the water and zoomed (literally 50mph on a boat) to some of the guides favorite spots. He had a great time fishing and he actually caught some fish. (Always a perk)The picture above shows him with his 8 pounder, one of the biggest bass he's caught so far. I'm so proud.

Wirlwind of a Weekend

This past weekend was a great weekend for Chris and I. We happened to be very productive and got alot accomplished once we finally sat down Sunday night.

Friday I picked up our backsplash tile which will be this weekends little project. I also went flower shopping with my mom. We were able to pick out some great flowers for our front yard to liven things up a bit. Chris and I stayed in Friday night and worked on installing our wood floors.Chris is doing such a great job, pictures to follow.

Saturday we woke up and cooked breakfast in our beautiful new kitchen! P.S. We are really enjoying it! We layed a few more rows of flooring and then headed out for the day, or so we thought...

Chris had heard about a festival down at White Rock Lake, they were going to have music, pets for adoption, food, etc. So we packed Ty into the car and headed down to grab a bite to eat before hand. We stopped by Texadelphia, one of Chris' favorite places to eat and ate lunch on the patio with Ty. As we were sitting there on the patio the rain began to pour and I mean pour. We hopped into the car and thought there is no way the festival is still on like it said online. We headed back home, so we basically took a 30 minute road trip down to the Texadelphia off of Lovers when there's one right up the street from us. The rain was crazy, I could barely see. We were racing the hail home basically. It's crazy the number of hail threats we've had since we got our car. I guess that's what we get for buying in the spring. We made it home right before the torential down pour. We just plopped on the sofa and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

It happened to be our friend Brice's birthday so we ended up going out to eat and then made a few other stops. We ate at Matt's in Lakewood which was really good.It was a fun night, good friends, good conversations.

Sunday we woke up and started the flooring process again. My parents were going to stop by later in the afternoon, mostly to see how things looked and to help me organize my flower beds. I was starting to take the plants out to the front yard as Chris was laying glue down...(bad idea)I should have seen it coming the minute I walked out the front door, Ty ran to the door to come out with me, even though I told him not to. In doing so got glue all over his feet and the new wood floors. Ahhhh... all I heard was Chris yelling "TY... NOOOOOOO..."I knew exactly what had happend the minute I shut the door. So we got all of the glue cleaned up but Ty still has a bad case of sticky paw.

My mom helped me plant all of my flowers, which look great if I do say so myself. It took no time at all, maybe 15 minutes because my mom's a pro.I am excited to see how they look once they all bloom. Who knew I had such a green thumb, now I hope I can keep them alive!

Overall it was a great weekend full of fun, and now I am counting down until this weekend begins.

Weekend Getaway

The last weekend in March we had a great opportunity to go down to Houston for a family friend’s wedding. We headed down Friday night; it blows my mind how many people pull out in front of you once you even hit the Woodlands vicinity. We got there safe and sound and in one piece, as soon as we got there we snagged my nephew up and caught up on stuff with Val and Justin. Then Grant was off to bed and everyone just followed his lead. Ty was excited to see his cousins and finally get in some good play time.

We woke up the next day and Justin made us crepes for breakfast. They were very good, just a different texture than I am used to. We loaded up on the crepes and then packed up to head to one of Houston’s attractions called City on the Green, or something like that. It was Grant’s first trip to the park, he was so cute in his little hat and outfit. And don’t worry we lathered up that baby with sunscreen like there was no tomorrow. The park was great with some fun water features and grassy spots. We enjoyed a picnic with Val and Justin’s small group from church. It was fun to see all of their friends and all of their kids running around. Val and I just camped out under a tree and talked which was great to catch up. Justin and Chris went a played some ultimate Frisbee until Chris got a HUGE blister on his foot from running around barefooted. They had a lot of fun being active and getting a work out. The park is new so the grass isn’t really fluffy grass yet, thus the reason for the blister. His foot is finally healing.

After our afternoon extravaganza we headed back to my sister’s place to clean up. One of the main reasons for our weekend getaway was one of the boys Chris grew up with in Temple was getting married. So we met his parent’s downtown at the Hilton which was a nice experience. The wedding was great, the food was great, and Chris actually let me stay to eat cake at this one. He usually wants to jet before they cut the cake. We found out that the couple getting married was going to Belize and staying at the same resort we did on our honeymoon. It was fun to fill them in on all that there is to offer there. We had a great time catching up with old friends and even family. We have a couple more weddings this summer that we are looking forward to as well.

After all of the festivities we headed back to Val and Justin to get our baby fix and to pick up Ty. We really enjoyed our weekend with Val and Justin and of course the little guy. We are excited to see them soon. Grant is starting to crawl and his personality is growing each and every day. I am such a lucky aunt, he is so great! He adored Chris and it was so fun to see him smiling and hanging out with his Uncle. In fact Chris only made him cry once. Short story but it would be a long story if I typed it out.

They Are Here...

That's right, Girl Scout cookies are here! Get Excited! I was greeted yesterday morning at work with the wonderful saying... "the cookies have arrived"/pay up. I went ahead and ordered some for some friends and family, so when my co-worker said... "Emily here's your box" I was made fun of a little, at least until I explained myself. Everyone who had ordered immediately opened their boxes and dove in. I called my mom and told her to stop by our house to pick hers up before I ate all them. Later on in the afternoon another co-worker was talking about how they had heard on the radio that girl scout cookie sales were actually down 19% from last year... are you ready for this... except in North Texas. (We're up 2% from last year) I tell ya people, don't get between us and our cookies. Anyways those cookies made my day, it's crazy how food can do that.

The Shackelford Bobsled Team

So yesterday was a crazy weather day in our neck of the woods. We both made it home safe and sound and Chris even managed to run a mile with Ty before the storms hit. We were going about our business and eating our dinner and watching one of our new shows Chopped on the Food Network. When suddenly we get a call from Chris' mom and she says and I paraphrase "Are you guys watching the news, there is a tornado heading right towards you" We had absolutley no clue what was happening around us, then once we hung up with her the sirens started to go off.

Here is some background... I'm from Texas so when the sirens go off I go to a closet or the bathtub, but oh not my husband, being raised in Okalhoma he is looking out the windows trying to see if he can actually see the thing or for that matter outside trying to get a sneak peek. Anyways I hop into the bath tub with some blankets and grab Ty. Ty doesn't like the bathtub so he didn't hop in no matter how hard I tried to coerce him into getting in. Finally Chris came into the bathroom and sat in the bathtub with me. Even though he left the bathroom door open... I was thinking to myself now how is that going to help protect us if the door is wide open... Anyways we sat there in the bathtub like we were the bobsled team, right behind each other for a while. I have taken many things from this experience but most importantly I think we need a bigger bathtub... I couldn't imagine fitting kids in there with us if it ever comes to that.

Finally the siren stopped and so of course Chris is hopping out of the tub going to look out the window and to check the news. It made a swift change of course up to the northern part of town. Pure craziness...

We hope that all of our friends and family are safe up in Edmond, heard it was crazy up there with tornadoes at 15th and Broadway. We were thinking of you yesterday. Hope all is well.

Our Rollie Pollie

Our little rollie pollie left us this past week. We had been changing his food, and giving him medicine for the past month trying to figure out why he was losing weight and not feeling well. Chris took him in while I headed off to Washington D.C. for a business trip. I know impeccable timing right. The doctors went in to see if they could find anything (at this time we knew nothing) and sure enough they found a stomach ulcer. (This is what has caused all of Toby's upset stomach aches) They then went in to try to see if they could mend it and sadly they found cancer had taken over his liver and small intestine. The vet had mentioned it would be best to just leave him under, due to the cancer's strength and his young age, if we would have fought through it all Toby would have just starved himself to death and we didn't want that. We will miss him, he truly was a gift from God. He was a member of our family and like my child, since we don't have any yet. It's so sad to think that we only were blessed with him for 2 years, but we have so many amazing memories with this little guy. His brother misses him dearly as do we. In thinking about him and all of his qualities and his little personality these are the memories that come to my mind:

• We would always call him Frog Dog cause he would always lay down and sprawl out his legs like a frog.


• He loved his food, thus the nick name rollie pollie. (because all of his rolls)


• I always enjoyed it when he would pounce at you or a toy. He would always pounce and crawl on us before we went to bed, or in Chris case on Saturday mornings to get him up.


• He was the best cuddler ever, just a sweet love bug.


• I loved it when he ca-plopped, trying to do it like brother. Its a thing they do. It always made my day becauase it was never as graceful as Ty's.


• He could always out run Ty even though he would always run in the Grass.


• He loved squeaker toys as soon as he learned how to make them squeak.


• His own little toots would always surprise him... gross and cute all at the same time.


• Whenever Ty and my sisters dogs would start playing/fighting he would always be the referee barking "fight! fight!" too cute...


• He always watched me get ready in the mornings and waited for me to finish up to go play in the back yard. I really miss that...


• After a while he learned to shake, high five, and dance with papa. I mean he would do anything for a treat!
• He loved being outside and chasing those rabbits.

I know I have left a million things out, but moving on...We all loved him so much and I'm so thankful for him while we had him. I wanted to thank those who have been praying for him for the past couple of weeks and months. I really appreciate. Here's to our rollie pollie...

My Hope

This morning I was reading our pastor's blog. His daughter has just turned 6 and for her birthday he always writes her a letter and takes her on a date. As I read this letter, I was amazed at how God is constant in all of his thoughts and coversations with his kids. He mentions it all the time at church and I am excited to think of the future and of the neat ways to introduce the love of Christ to our kids one day. I think all father and daughter realtionships are special, and I hope that if we are blessed with a little girl that Chris will be the apple of their eye. I think creating special times and traditions is a great idea for any dad and daughter. I hope that Chris and I can create sweet memories and do little things like this for our kids in the future. Check out the blog, it's very inspiring...http://hv.thevillagechurch.net/blog/hvpastor/

Christmas...Recap

Our Christmas was amazing this year, we got to spend it with my family. My sister and brother-in-law and nephew came into town which was such a fun experience. We didn’t do a whole lot which was nice to just relax and enjoy family. Christmas Eve we both got off from work early which was a nice treat, although there  was no traffic going to and from work since everyone else in the world seemed to have Christmas Eve off. We decided to open our presents to each other on Christmas eve since we were going to my parents Christmas morning. Giving gifts is one of our favorite things to do. We just relaxed the rest of the afternoon and finished up any last minute gift wrapping, then we headed off to our church Christmas Eve service. The Village only had three services and we were going to the last one at 7:00, and we barely made it in. They had to turn people away which is always hard to do especially on Christmas Eve. The service was great, I love hearing all of the Christmas music especially at our church where they like to mix things up a little bit. The message was short and sweet and then we of course did the whole candle lighting, which is always such a pretty sight. We then headed back home and hung out for a bit.

Christmas morning we woke up early in order to get over to my parents by the time Grant woke up. We didn’t want them waiting on us, so we packed up the pups and all the gifts and headed over to my parents. We got there and settled in, Justin and Val are starting the tradition to read the story of the birth of Jesus Christmas morning before opening gifts. I thought this was a great idea and a great reminder of the reason for the season. We enjoyed the gift giving and getting and the chance to see and hold Grant. He is a big boy now he was 4 months old on Christmas Day. Our entertainment was his tummy time and watching him role over and seeing his smiles. He is a very happy camper most of the time. My Aunt, Uncle, and cousins ended up coming over for a late lunch, we had a great Ham dinner and it was super tasty. We then proceeded to play games and we watched Wall-E apparently I missed that bus, but everyone in my family except for Chris and I got this movie for Christmas this year. It was a cute movie, but I didn’t get to see it all since I volunteer to help Val with Grant’s bath time. He was such a great little guy in the bath tub so happy all the time. I will have to post some pictures of him soon. He is getting quite the personality.

The day after Christmas I had the day off so I slept in as long as the dogs would let me and then I made my way to the 70% off sale at Crate and Barrel. It was pure chaos in there, let me tell you. I think I will wait and go the day after the day after Christmas from now on. They had the exact same stuff the following day. Then I just went home and relaxed. It was a great day off, and all I could think about was our upcoming renovation to our house. I tried to get everything in order since we were having 10 people over for dinner Saturday. My grandparents were flying in for the week, so we had them over along with my parents and Valerie, Justin, & Grant as well as the Shacks came over too. It was a great dinner and we just enjoyed being with family and spending time catching up on life over a couple of games.

Christmas was great, we enjoyed this year and can’t wait to see what next year brings.

2009 Plans

Everyone knows that with every new year comes New Year’s Resolutions, but we all know that that just sets you up for failure. Am I right? Of course I’m right.  Well I figured I would start out 2009 with a list of goals that I want to achieve this year, so here we go…

1)     I would like to not procrastinate as much this year as I did last year. I think I will be more productive and happy with what all I can accomplish if I put my mind to it.

2)     Chris and I are trying to live a healthier lifestyle which includes healthier food habits, workout habits, etc. I read an article last year about health that had a really interesting perspective. It was this lady who was explaining why she lives the way she does with working out and living a healthy lifestyle, her response was… (paraphrased) “I want to live a healthy life now and make it a habit, so I can not only be here to watch my kids grow up and live great lives but my grandchildren.” I think that’s so true, and now that I have witnessed firsthand the joy my nephew brings to my sister, my parents and the rest of our family I think this is something to strive for. Be looking for another post about Boot Camp sometime soon.

3)     Make our house our own. I know it takes a heap of living in a house to make it your own, but I’m ready for it to not look like the old ladies house that lived here before us. I am ready to put my own twist on things… Even though I have design struggles sometimes, I know you are thinking an Interior Designer having issues designing her own house, but it’s true. I think it’s because I know what’s all out there and it’s hard to pick just one look and mix looks to make it look like a designers home.  Just the stress of that wears on me. We are planning on doing a half of the house overhaul here in a couple of months, more on that to come your way soon.

4)     At church for the past couple of weeks our Pastor has been talking about not being in the same place spiritually this time next year. And he mentions all the time that he wants our church to grow deep and not wide. Here a few links for the past couple of sermons, I would highly recommend them. http://www.thevillagechurch.net/resources/sermons.html and you can check out his blog too http://dwelldeep.net/?p=44 So I want to set a goal that I will challenge my faith and try to learn more about my Savior and the reasoning behind some of our beliefs. I have a hard time of relating to people at work sometime and sharing my faith, so by this time next year I hope that I would be able to communicate these things to them with courage and confidence.

Hopefully this time next year or for that matter by February, March or April hopefully I will have already achieved some of this stuff.