Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas day that is spent with close family and friends! Let us remember what Christmas is truly about.

Merry Christmas Eve!

I don't have much to post today, but I thought I would post a fun video by the Christian band, Reliant K. I'm not a huge Reliant K fan, but this video was just too cute.

Monday Menu Plan

Yay for Menu planning! I really got off the bandwagon of this for awhile, but I recently got back on it. It has helped us so much and I'm spending way less money at the grocery store, which for us right now, is a necessity. I know not many people care, but it's helping me get in the right direction as far as organization, so you're just going to have to get used to me doing this weekly.

Here is the plan for this week.

*As a note, breakfasts and lunches are all the same. Oatmeal or eggs for breakfast, and sandwiches for lunch*

Monday- Leftover salad and garlic bread (we had our Bible study over last night for a lasagna dinner and I was planning on having leftovers of lasagna, but alas, there was non left to be had)

Tuesday- Sloppy Joes (or, for the PC people, Untidy Josephs) and steamed veggies

Wednesday- Out

Thursday- Christmas ham dinner at my brother's

Friday- Mac and Cheese with chicken tenders

Saturday- Christmas lunch at dinner at the cousin's

Sunday- Taco soup


I didn't do the family favorites addition this time, since I'm not really making a family favorite. Maybe next time!

Catching Up

I'm such a horrible blogger. I think about posting something, but then I never get around to it. I am so envious of the other bloggers that have something great to write nearly every day, while I struggle to put out a single post. I don't know how many readers I have, but I don't want to lose any, simply because I don't post that often.

That being said, I think I going to try to make this more of a fun journal. I may post something serious, I will probably post about what's going on in my life and my ever evolving walk with God, but I will mostly post things I'm finding interesting at the moment. It may be something from another blog I read, it may be a fun You Tube video, or it may be some lyrics to a song that is speaking to me at the moment. I'm just thinking about this as a journal, so some day I can look back and see what I found entertaining or thought provoking at the moment.

That being said, this post will be about what happened this past week. "What happened?" You ask? Well, Let me just show you:



Oh my lucky stars! It's snow!! In the desert!!! Yes folks, it snowed in the desert. I woke up Wednesday morning at 6:30 and thought it looked whiter than normal outside, so I got out of bed and peeked through the blinds and there it was. In all it's wet and cold glory. SNOW!!!!!

I opened all the blinds in the house and just stared. I figured it would all be gone by 9am, so I was soaking it all in. I also went out and took tons of pictures, just to capture the magical moment.

Here are a few of them:

Down the street

Our backyard

Come rain, sleet or snow, USPS will always deliver

Earlier in the morning

Our front yard

By 11am, the snow was not slowing down. It was actually coming down more! Eric wanted to go drive in it, so I bundled up, grabbed a blanket and off we went. The main roads were pretty bad. Desert people just don't know how to deal with snow, so Eric went down some side streets. He had fun testing out our TCS and anti lock breaks on our car. After about an hour, we went home to go sit by the fire. By 2 in the afternoon, it was STILL snowing, so we decided to go to my aunt and uncles house to watch the snow from their picture windows. It took twice as long to get there, but we made it and my dad took some pictures of us by the snowman my cousins made earlier that day.

Close up!

When we got home that evening, we couldn't even pull all the way in the driveway, because there was too much snow. I couldn't believe it. This is the most snow I have seen. Ever. By the time we went to bed that evening, we had 10 inches of snow, and it was still coming down.

Our car stuck in the driveway

Our poor tree. Three branches broke off

The front of our house from across the street

The snow lined up with the sidewalk10 inches!!

The last of the snow melted today, but I will never forget the fun we had last Wednesday. I'm still hoping and praying we can have another day like it soon!

Thank Yous

Since Eric and I have been abundantly blessed by others, I've been busy making thank you cards to show my appreciation to those who have been doing the blessing! Here are a few that I made today.

Big Bear Pictures!

Our family has a yearly tradition that dates back to when I when I was in high school and before all the kids were born (except for Katie and Maggie). Every Thanksgiving weekend, the cousins trek up the mountain to spend the weekend at a cabin in Big Bear. I wasn't allowed until I was out of high school, but ever since then, it's been a tradition I always look forward to. We've been to three different cabins in the past, but the current one we stay at is our all time favorite. It has 4 bedrooms and two good sized living spaces. It fits perfectly with our growing bunch.

Below are some photos from this past weekend. I miss it already!

"Serious" Eric, on the way up the mountain


The view once we got up there






Here is our home away from home, Coulter Lodge.



A trip to the cabin isn't complete without playing a bunch of games.

Uno

I'm almost out!!

Poker is a must during Big Bear weekend

I'm preparing to deal

My brothers, Dave (who is camera shy) and Jon

My cousin, Tom, is the big winner!

Whatcha drinkin' Dave?
Amanda takes in the action
Karen's Big Bear tradition is to work on her scrap booking

Usually after spending lots of time sitting and watching movies, or playing games, we like to go out and get some fresh air by taking a walk.

My niece and nephew, Mia and Nick

My nephews, Justin and Joshua
Joshua is all bundled up! Good grief is he ever cute!

Me and the hubster. Sorry it's so blurry!
This one is a bit too dark, but at least it isn't blurry! We are in the same spot as above too.
Jon and Amanda
Dave and Karen
A random shot of the roaring fire we always had going

I can't believe Big Bear weekend has already come and gone. We always have so much fun and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Christmastime is Here!

I love this time of year. I love baking Christmas cookies, putting up my decorations and listening to fun Christmas music. As Andy Williams sings, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

Since this is the year of homemade Christmas gifts, I've been busy putting everything together for my Christmas gift baskets. It's been so nice not to be stressed out about what to get people. I love shopping, but sometimes trying to figure out the perfect gift can be quite the challenge. This year, everyone is getting the same thing, so it makes my life so much easier!

I'm looking forward to posting some of the pictures of what I have been making, but since some of my readers may get said gifts, I won't show them until after Christmas. However, I also have a boat load of pictures from our Big Bear trip this past weekend, so I will be posting those soon. Hopefully I can get them up tonight.

I hope everyone has a wonderful time this Christmas season and for your viewing pleasure, here is a fun acapella group doing the 12 Days of Christmas!

I love this group because I can just see Andy Bernard singing in a group like this at, you know, Cornell.