A weekend escape

Because I'm sure you've memorized all my previous posts, I'm POSITIVE you remember our little weekend getaway Don and I took a few years ago to the hills of Missouri just to get away (and let Don ride his bike).  But just in case you have temporarily forgotten, you can refresh your memory here.

Anyway, Don has since ridden the trail several times that JUST HAPPENS to be right next to where we stayed before.  And really likes said trail.  So, a few weekends ago, on a weekend that just happened to fall on our anniversary weekend, we left the kids with my mother-in-law, packed up the car, picked up our friends Brad and Cara, and headed back to the same town.  And the same cabin company.  But NOT the 7-bedroom Shangri-la that we had the last time.  Which actually was fine with me.  We stayed in a gorgeous/rustic 2-bedroom log cabin with an open kitchen/living room.  Just like the last time I blogged about it, you will NOT find any pictures of me in this post...  I did NOT wear makeup and I DID wear sweatpants all weekend... and it was HEAVENLY.  We turned our electronics (phones) off, because they didn't work anyway.  We watched a ton of movies, we play games, the boys rode their bikes, Cara and I took a personality/psychology test (it was more fun than it sounds... really!), and we cooked/ate a LOT!

It was such a good place to COMPLETELY unwind, relax and enjoy each other's company.  Here are some shots from the weekend.

Don making sure the bikes were ready for a ride

Our kitchen (with no dishwasher, might I add!)

The awesome fireplace that we made use of the ENTIRE WEEKEND

The closest neighbor was WAY up that hill

 

The awesome/rustic master bath

So while we girls were "home" relaxing, the boys were actually out riding

with mud all over them!

Speaking of riding, Don was just accepted to participating in the Leadville 100 mountain bike race.  Thousands of riders apply, but they only let 1,700 participate.  {insert proud wife jig}  He's been training for this for a year and a half already.  To keep up with his training/biking adventures, you can read his blog at leadville2012.blogspot.com.

Royal Rumble, Baby!

So, Bub LOVES the WWE.  Like, LOVES it.  Don and I, well, you know... well, how do I put this?  Well...  we could do without it.  How was that?  But because Bub loves it, we've been forced to at least acknowledge the presence of the WWE in our lives.

The last 2 years' Halloween costumes have been WWE "fighters."

Hulk Hogan last year

And here's the post from the year before.  (here)

So, for Christmas this year, Don and I got Bub tickets (2, for Don and Bub only...  not me... no sirree) to the Royal Rumble which was held in St Louis.  Needless to say, he was EXCITED!

A few weeks ago, the boys took the MetroLink to downtown for the big show (haha.  big show is the name of a wrestler... just a little WWE humor for ya).

Don took the camera and got some GREAT shots of the night.  Just thought I'd share some of them with you.

A cage match.  Apparently one of these big dudes is Big Show (see previous "joke")

John Cena.  I know him because he was in a movie I've seen.  And he's the dad in that annoying Fred movie on Nickelodeon.

Crazy fire.  And crazy HOW. MANY. PEOPLE. ARE. THERE.

Bub was into the event

This is one of the funniest pictures I think I've ever seen.

This final picture actually got me all teary-eyed when I saw it...  the raw, pure expression of excitement and joy on Bub's face was unbelievable to me.  He poses for photos with a "cool" look... which I also like, but this?  This captures how excited he really was.

EXCITEMENT

Family slumber party weekend, circa 2012

Hey, there!  Maybe I should have made one of my goals for 2012 to BLOG MORE!!!  Well, I'm going to TRY to catch up and post some things that have already happened and then post more regularly in the future.  I have to remember that my whole purpose for blogging is to remember all our "adventures."  So if I don't document them, it's like they never happened.  Right?  :)

So, I know I talked last year about our family slumber party we all have at my parents' house once a year (here is my update from 2010 and pics from 2009 and also here). We had it once again this year (duh!  it's "annual!").  This year, my brother was able to get off work and so we were ALL together ALL weekend.  It was so fun!

Last year, my nephew was very close to being born but wasn't here yet.  This year, not only was he here, he was our weekend entertainment.  We are all mush around him...  It's so fun to be around such a fun baby!

He was showing off his steps from one chair to the other.

He perks up the minute he sees a camera... what a cutie ham!

We played lots of games... my brother even made some brackets for our games... one was single elimination and the other was double elimination!  ha.

These are some game players that DO NOT LIKE TO LOSE!

The kids had a great time with Nana and Papa:  cooking, doing crafts and playing the piano.

We girls shopped (like normal) and the boys went a shot trap (I'm not even sure I phrased that correctly).  When we went to Old Navy and I saw that Christy had a shirt on from there, I made her pose.  She's such a good sport!

On Saturday morning, Don and I talked my brother and brother-in-law (and Bub) into going with us to the Saturday morning outdoor circuit workout that we go to (until I sprained my back and had to take 6 weeks off... that's another story for another day).  We did that while my sisters and my brother's girlfriend went for a walk (did I mention that it was snowy??).

After that, we were all done with exercising (on to eating!), except for Don who is training for the Leadville 100 mountain bike race this summer.  He rode his bike in the snow later in the weekend.

Here are some final shots from the weekend.  I say this every year, but I {heart} my family.

Happy New Year 2012!!

Happy new year, y'all! I've been enjoying the first day of 2012. We spent the night with friends last night and now we're watching The Cosby Show with the kids.

As I seem to do every year, I've been reflecting on the last year and planning my goals for the next year.

Some of my 2011 goals were to take a photo a day and to read through the Bible for the first time ever (I've gotten a lot of it read before, but haven't ever made it all the way through). So, the picture of the day... It was a FAIL! I made it through part of August. But as of today, I finished the entire Bible! I'm really excited!

I also had a goal to take better care of my health in 2011. I intended to take vitamins daily, but I didn't do so well with that. I did, however, start working out regularly. And that's good. :)

In 2010, we made it through 7 days of nightly devotions with the kids before that fell by the wayside. So I felt like we made a marked improvement in 2011 because we made it over 2 weeks! Ha.

For 2012, here are some of my goals:
Regular devotions with the kids
Memorize Psalms 139
Drink 8 glasses of water a day
Do 20 "real" pushups in a row
Run a 5k without walking
Weigh a certain amount (nunya bizness!)
Take a picture a day (again...)

I like the word "goal" better than "resolution," because it seems to focus more on the effort rather a resolute notion. And that feels more doable to me.

So what about you? Do you make resolutions? Goals?

Before and After, part 3?

I feel like I am always posting Before and Afters.  If you haven't figured this out about me yet, I like to change things up.  A lot.  And so do my kids with THEIR hair.  So, here we go again.  :)

In case you forgot, here's my before...  (the first one is this morning, and it's kind of blurry... still getting used to my new camera).

I've been letting it grow out for about 2 years now.  And I really like it when I FIX it, but that doesn't happen regularly.  :)  I most often do what I did in the top picture... straighten my bangs and let the rest dry naturally (and frizzy).

So, I decided to chop it off.  Literally.  I am still researching where to donate my hair to, but my braid was 10" long.

See?

So, here's the "after."  I think it's kinda "big" today.  I call it hairstylist hair...  where it's a little bigger than I would normally wear it.  But I LOVE IT!

And there go you...  the BEFORE AND AFTER... again.

Being an Individual

So, the more Don and I got to know each other as we were dating and newly married, we realized that we had something in common... we like(d) to be an individual... stand out in a crowd.  (I just realized how funny that is... that we like to be an individual just like each other.  ha)

While both kids inherited that trait from us in some ways (let's remember the numerous mohawks that Bub has sported... the slicked back mullet that he wore out for his birthday), that trait has really been passed on to Sis.

She doesn't care about name brands on clothes, she doesn't care about name brands on shoes... she just likes what SHE likes.

So, for the last year or so, I've been letting her put semi-permanent color in her hair.  We've tried this look several times, but this latest 'do has "taken" the most.  The whole underneath of her hair has been dyed black.  And as long as it is, and because of her layers, it shows up the bottom third of her hair or so.

And she loved it so much that she actually did a little photo posing for me.  Which, these days, is a big deal!  Here's Sis...

I love her smile here, but you can't see as much of her "underneath" hair.  Note her "Geek" necklace, and her Pokemon hoodie.

You can see the color better in this one.

My gorgeous, individual girl

One last look...

Despicable Deliciousness

So, I've gotten sucked into the Pinterest craze... meaning I'm CRAZY for it!  For those of you not familiar with it, it's like an online bulletin board where you can "pin" things you're interested in on your bulletin boards.

I believe I've made it clear on here before that I am NOT crafty...  I've instituted a Christmas-time baking cookie "tradition" (if doing it twice makes it a tradition), but I am always SO crabby by the end of that "fun."  It's the decorating part of the baking that stresses me out so much, I think.  Because it's crafty.

Anyhoo, I found this photo on Pinterest:

Source: eighteen25.blogspot.com via Darla on Pinterest

And Bub was ALL OVER IT.  He wanted us to make them RIGHT NOW.  Which was like a Tuesday.  And we had no ingredients.  Nor was I in the mood.  So I convinced him to wait until Thanksgiving break.

Which was today.  Which he reminded me of as soon as the week started.

These little guys on the cupcakes are Minions.  From the movie Despicable Me.  Which my kids LOVED.

So, today was the day.  For craftiness.  *yay*

So, we decided to try it.  Introducing:  our cast of characters.  LOTS AND LOTS OF SUGARY GOODNESS.

Sis wasn't interested in helping us with the cupcakes, but she separated the Smarties for us... we needed the white ones separated from the other colors.

We had to wait for our cupcakes to cool before we could begin.

Bub googled Minions to make sure we remembered what they looked like.

We iced a cupcake, then put a Twinkie half on the top.

We put a line of black icing around the front and added either one or two Smarties.

We traced the Smartie to finish off the goggles, added the dot in the eye and finished off their smiles.  We tried to use the red licorice for their hair, but we couldn't make that work (it should have been black anyway, but the store was out of black tear-apart licorice)... so we skipped the hair.

Here's the whole group of them... just don't look at them too close or you might find...

A rabid Minion.  Doesn't he look like he just ate someone's blood?

Or the unibrow Minion.  No wonder he doesn't smile.

And that poor guy in the back.  We just feel bad for that poor guy.

But you know what?  Overall, I like our cute little Minions.

Bub and I have already decided that these guys will probably look pretty pitiful by the time they make it to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  I think the black icing is already absorbing into the Twinkies, the eyes are drooping WELL below where they should be.  But you know what?  I did the whole project with Bub, and didn't get crabby at ALL.  I call that a crafty WIN.