Merry Christmas

Oh no!

Oh no!!! I'm addicted. I have bought an espresso maker, just like the Mr. Coffee one above, and found pumpkin spice coffee flavoring (thanks Coffee Mate!) so that I can make pumpkin spice lattes at home.

Ron seriously thinks I have lost it. Starting to drink coffee after all these years. The boys all think it smells like Starbucks in the house. ;) My sister - she's laughing at me. I called her to make sure what kind of coffee to buy while I was at the store and only after we hung up did she call me back to remind me that I need a coffee maker to make coffee. {{giggles}} Don't worry - I was one step ahead of her. We had already figured out that lattes are made with espresso and milk so I was actually on the right track buying the espresso machine.

So...big thanks to my co-worker, Carrie. It's official...I'm a coffee drinker. Maybe not "straight up" coffee but close, huh?

When they take the pumpkin spice flavoring off the shelves and I run out I'm thinking vanilla lattes...maybe?

Happy Birthday Denise!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife, best friend and awesome mom to our boys.

Love you! Ron

Believing

If you know me well you know that I am a Christian so this is not news that I believe in Jesus. I am just re-afirming that I believe in God, His grace, His mercy and His power. I believe in HIS plan. Amen!

Happy Fall Ya'll!

More photos from our photo shoot. Enjoy. :)

Family Photo Shoot - sneak peek

Love my friend, Andrea Hughes.

Had a professional family photo shoot for the first time EVER. Here's a sneek peak. Can't wait to see all the rest.

Fall is in the air

The leaves have started falling off the trees in our yard. It looks like there is alot on the ground BUT there is MORE in the trees. Aye!

I'm still pretty busy (at home and work) but there is light at the end of the tunnel. My 30 plus meetings regarding insurance re-enrollment end tomorrow. We move, at work, next week. Thanksgiving - and a few days off - don't seem so far away.

Yeah...I think I'll make it through this busy time and enjoy the fall that is in the air soon enough.

:-)

Silly

Ok - this is silly. Absolutely ridiculous.

But I just HAD to...

I wore this skirt from Coldwater Creek that had the above pattern I took a picture of and realized that I matched my blog today. :-)

Silly, I know. But made me want to post SOMETHING! {{giggle}}

Neglected

My poor, poor blog.

I am a very busy bee right now and am neglecting my poor, poor blog.

Since I work in payroll/human resources at my job/church this is a very busy time for insurance re-enrollment and our finance department in general.

AND we are moving facilities in about 2 weeks!

AND the boys are keeping me busy with everyday "STUFF" when I am home.

Awww...my poor, poor blog. I'll come visit again soon! Promise. :)

U2 ... & me too...

So...Ron and Dylan are at the U2 concert tonight.

He emailed me this picture of the view from their seats.

Cool! My lucky 14 year old son! All the other concerts he attends will probably NEVER live up to his first one!

I'm a little worried about him...he's going to be TIRED!!! He has to be up at 6 to be at school by 7 a.m. for band practice. Aye....ugh... Sure hope he'll be able to sleep...Oh I'm worried about Ron too...he has to be up early for his 40 minute drive to work. I get up shortly after him to start my day. (what am I still doing up by the way???)

And...what were Riley and I doing tonight? We just had some dinner. Riley played and I worked...on our computers...at home.

Here's some silly pictures we took while waiting for his boneless wings at KFC.
(big step for me...don't like posting unflattering pics of myself...but hey...keeping it real...if I'm going to post silly pictures of Riley I should post silly pictures of myself too!) I think I'm better at silly faces - what do you think?





AND...random...here's Riley's homemade cookie cake for his birthday. Dad made it! He's so GREAT!!! It was yummy!!!

Happy 11th Birthday Riley!

How is our little man 11 already? Wow!

He is smart, silly, loving. He makes us proud!

Praying that he has an awesome year filled with many blessings!

Oh no!

I have a Starbucks gift card and I'm not afraid to use it!

I have NEVER drank coffee. Never have liked it. Oh...I have loved the smell of it and the idea of it but have never like the taste and aftertaste of it. BUT...

One of my co-workers/friends, Carrie, turned me on to Pumpkin Spice Lattes and I'm hooked.

After getting hooked I found a gift card I had gotten some time ago in my purse. I seriously thought it was like $5 or $10. But - lo and behold...a HUGE blessing...$20!!! Yippeee!!!

So after calling my coffee loving sister to tell her that "heck" may have frozen over...I was drinking coffee...she proceeded to tell me what I should try next: A tall, nonfat,decaf latte with 1 pump of vanilla - please sweeten with Splenda. {{giggle}} I'm going to try it - probably - soon...if I can get myself to take a break from the Pumpkin Spice. :)

Black and white all over

This isn't the greatest photo but I took it with my iphone to post on facebook. Ron spent a couple of days last week painting our bedroom a beautiful slate blue color. We have black and white bedding (yep...in love with black and white...just like on my blog - hence: black and white all over). We also have burgandy accents like the pillow, some candles and a couple of other lamps that you cannot see that are burgandy too.

Just had to post because I am IN LOVE with my "new" bedroom. I got the drapes hung and everything straightened up. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my room. I'll try to take some other pictures soon.

BTW - WOO!HOO! Ron finally got an interview last Friday morning AND - GOT THE JOB!

God is good! We feel so blessed. Although it is not "ideal" it's good. Ideal would be working from home or 5 minutes from like me. :) It's about 30 to 45 minutes from home but he can work early hours and still be home by 5 - so not that bad. It was a long but short 5 months out of work and I really think he's ready to be back in the groove. He truly didn't enjoy being a "employee of the state". Not his style AT ALL.

So...that's just a little of what's up in our world. (Feeling like we can finally handle some home improvement stuff around the house so stay tuned for more pics of updates. ;))

Boys & Bikes

The boys got bikes for their birthdays. Dylan...a few days early. Riley...about a month early. They love 'em! I'm glad! I like to see them outside - especially with the great weather we've been having. Hopefully Ron and I will be able to get new bikes soon so that we can all ride together. So fun!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Happy 14th Birthday, Dylan!

You make us very proud to call you our son!

We love you!

Milestones

As I've mentioned before, I think this is a milestone year for my boys. Dylan and Riley are both in their last year at their respective schools. Dylan in 8th and Riley in 5th.

HOW CAN THIS BE? Yikes!

Here are a couple of their annual 1st day of school posed by mom pictures:

Oh and notice the tickers on the left? We are about 1 week from Dylan's 14th birthday and 1 month from Riley's 11th birthday. Again...I ask...HOW CAN THIS BE? Yikes!

The older you get - the faster time goes. Yep...that's it.

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to my husband of 19 years!

Wow! 19 years!

We dated for about 3 years before we got married so…that’s quite a while!

I can still remember being sooooo happy the day we got married.

I wanted to be an “on time” bride. (guess that’s because my ceremony was an hour long! YIKES! What was I thinking!!!) I was constantly asking what time it was. I was READY to walk down the aisle right at 6 p.m..

I had to walk behind the rows of chairs and then up the aisle to Ron. I was SMILING the entire time. I turned the corner to walk up the aisle and believe it or not my smile got even bigger when I saw him standing there waiting for me!

I remember during a song after we lit the unity candle we were looking into each other’s eyes. I leaned forward to tell him that I could see myself in his eyes and he said he had been thinking the exact same thing. Such a sweet moment.

I remember so many great things before and after we got married. I remember also so many trials and low moments too. But mostly I remember our love and that Jesus is in the middle of our love, our lives, our family, everything!

Ron, I love you more than words could ever describe. I thank God for our marriage and our family. Thank you for 19 plus amazing years! Here’s to many, many, many more!

Back into the groove

Well, we've been home a week and jumped right back in. I'm back at work. Ron is still looking for work. Dylan had a yearbook workshop and band stuff going on for school. Riley...just chillin' out before school starts in only another week. Yep - we're right back into the groove.

Vacation this year in Destin was truly AMAZING! The water was very clear all week. I never saw seaweed...not once. It was beautiful...sunny...every day. It was about 85 to 92 degrees. And with a beach breeze - that's tolerable for me. It only rained on Wednesday evening for about 2 hours. But we had already gotten a whole day of sun in so...all was ok.

There were many yummy seafood restaurants we ate at. There was many late evenings but many sleepy late mornings too. We slept well and we rested/relaxed well too. It truly is like our 2nd home there. We are missing it already.

Here's some pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Destin Vacation 2009

AMAZING WEEK!

Sunny, sunny days. Clear, clear water. Great seafood to eat for dinner.

We are relaxing! Having some good family time. (still getting our workouts in) Lots of sleep (including naps on the beach for mom and dad - can't beat that ocean breeze!)

This is one of our best years here yet!

So excited we still have 3 whole days left! YEA!!!