Someone went to the eye doctor over the weekend...

...wonder who it could be?

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday! To celebrate we had my mom and dad over yesterday for lunch. We had some barbeque chicken sandwhiches, cole slaw, macaroni salad, and a green salad. I realized today that I forgot to make the baked beans but my mom is probably glad that I forgot. Then we had some present time and we (the four kids) got him some micro speakers/radio for his office. He was saying how it was too quiet in there so he was glad that he can now have some nice background music or even a Cardinals baseball game. He is very funny when it comes to presents, it was the first thing he noticed when he came in our house and he sat in a chair with the box tapping it, feeling it, etc until lunch time (now I know where I get my love of presents and impatience in waiting for them from ). Then after lunch, we decided he had waited long enough so he could open his present. He was very excited! Then it was time for dessert, a home made ice cream pie (with home made ice cream). We didn't get to sing happy birthday because he was already in the basement watching the recorded Olympic marathon, so we just had to bring him his piece with two candles on it. He was so wrapped up in the marathon that he didn't want to blow his candles out but thankfully Nelson could pause it so that he would have time to make a wish and blow out his candles. All and all it was a good celebration. Here are some pics that I took afterwards since I kinda forgot to take them while they were still here.

So long, farewell...

To set the mood for this blog post, please start singing this Michael W. Smith song:
"And friends are friends forever
If the Lord's the Lord of them
And a friend will not say never
'Cause the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go
In the Father's hands we know
That a lifetime's not too long
To live as friends"
So now that we got that settled, tonight we had to say goodbye to some friends who were here for only a year but who will always remain a part of our lives. We are sad that they are leaving the Lou but know that the Windy City will be a better place because of them living there (no pressure or anything). Here are some KG pictures from tonight (sorry Matt and Kelli, we really wanted you here for the pics, we were going to do cardboard cut outs but we just didn't have a printer big enough).


Opening up their going away present- a print of the St. Louis skyline


beautifully made and decorated cake (all credit goes to Janet)


The girls


the boys


we will miss this little guy


adorable

Since I like to copy off of other people's blogs, here is something I found today that I will do too!

Since I like to copy off of other people's blogs, here is something I found today that I will do too!

A Game of Fives

What were you doing five years ago?
I was in my sophomore year of college-at home for the semester, taking classes and working.

What were five things on your to-do list for today?
1. run
2. get ready for a going away party
3. work on our institution review board renewal application for our research project
4. laundry
5. make my lunch

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. cottage cheese and chicken in a biscuit crackers
2. carrots
3. a snack size candy bar
4. trail mix
5. a piece of cheese or lunch meat

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire (in no particular order)?
1. Go on a really long Eurpean vacation with Nelson and James and Steph
2. Give more to Covenant College
3. Give more to our church
4. Put some in savings for our kids educations
5. Give some more away

What are five of your bad habits?
1. Not finishing my sentences/talking about many things at one time
2. Laziness
3. TV
4. Facebook
5. Picking my nose (just kidding, I just couldn't think of anything else)

What are five places where you have lived?
1. St. Louis, MO
2. Birmingham, AL
3. Lookout Mountain, Ga
4. Haven't lived anywhere else
5. Haven't lived anywhere else

What are five jobs you've had?
1. camp counselor
2. babysitter/nanny
3. life guard
4. swim coach
5. occupational therapist

Our new doorknocker!

Some friends of ours gave us a doorknocker as a house warming present, and we finally put it up today. Here it is!

His and Her's!

Nelson recently got some new running shoes (that could have been a whole other blog entry) and then about a month later (this weekend) I needed some new shoes. It was perfect timing because I also had just gotten a 25% off coupon for Sports Authority. So we went and there were some Brooks that matched his that he just got. Forget things like comfort, support and stability, they matched Nelson's so I had to get them. We ran today and they are comfortable and very nice so they ended up being great but they are even better for the fact that they match Nelson's. Here are our his and her's shoes!

Homemade Ice Cream

We got an ice cream maker for our wedding but did not have much luck using it when we lived in our apt. See, you have to freeze the inside bucket, it has some special liquid in it that gets really cold to make the ice cream. So you freeze it until you shake it and can't hear the liquid anymore. Well, in our apt in the summer time (the most desirable time for ice cream of course), our freezer had difficulty freezing things. Our apt never got really cool and as a result, our fridge and freezer probably didn't get as cold as they should have been. So freezing the ice cream bucket didn't really work. It was quite disappointing. But, now that we have a house with a new fridge, cooler temperatures outside which are resulting in an A/C that barely has to run to keep us cool, I thought that it was time to break out the ice cream maker again. So I put the bucket in the freezer and a few hours later, it was frozen solid, no liquid to be heard. Then I made some ice cream. I used a mixture of heavy whipping cream and half and half and then whole milk and two percent. I added some Reese's Pieces and twenty five minutes later, we had some delicious ice cream. What a tasty sweet bite!

Cleaning is fun again!

Well, I have been doing some heavy duty cleaning this weekend and I have not been so satisfied in the past with my regular Swiffer. So I thought that I needed to do something different. Well, since I am quite the sucker for advertisements and since I just saw a Swiffer Wet Jet commercial, I just knew that was exactly what I needed. So I headed to Target and picked one up. And, oh my, it is just great. It cleans like no other. You can press the button to get some cleaner to squirt out and then you just scrub away. It has a much more substantial handle so you can really press down on it to scrub. It also has a special scrubber built into the side. It is just so great and our floors are so clean. You can even by special wood cleaner solution or antibacterial. All in all, it is just great, I would highly recommend it!

The joys of being a homeowner!

We had to do one of our biggest maintenance projects today. Well, we didn't do it but we had to have someone take down one of our trees. It was very sad but it is better that it is down so that it does not fall on our house. We got a great deal from a co-workers son so we were very thankful for that. But when we went out to look at the tree stump we saw four little animals, we are not sure what they are, maybe baby mice? Three of the four were already dead and then one was just barely moving. It was so sad but there really was nothing we could do. I am not sure if they were nesting in the tree or if they just happened to be there and that was the first time we noticed them. Either way it was sad for this little family of animals.

Anniversary Trip

Well, it wasn't exactly a trip if you define a trip by going out of town, but we did have a little getaway weekend to celebrate our anniversary. We headed to the Hilton on Friday night and after checking into our room and getting ready to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory, we realized we forgot our Muny tickets at home. Since we had riden the Metrolink down to the hotel, we had to ride it back out to our house. So we did and we got our tickets but we didn't have time for the Spaghetti Factory so we just got a quick bite at Q'doba instead. It was quite delicious. Then we headed back to the Muny and made it in time to see Fiddler on the Roof. Then we headed back to the hotel and got some delicous room service for dessert. It was quite the treat. Here are some pics from Friday-


Our hotel (the Hilton on the left)


View from our room (yeah they haven't started Ballpark villege yet)


A TV in elevator!


Heading out to the Muny (well first to get our tickets)


Cool reflection walking back from the Muny


Dessert!


Tasty coffee!

We slept in on Saturday and enjoyed a lunch (for Emily)/breakfast (for Nelson) at Einstein's before heading to the Chase to see the Dark Knight for the second time (again, totally worth it). Then we went to the Cathedral Basilica, a very amazing Cathedral that Nelson had never been to and I have only been to once in high school. The whole inside is basically mosaics and it is quite beautiful. Then we headed back to our hotel to hang out and rest till dinner. We went to Old Spaghetti Factory then and it was great. It is a very fun environment and tasty food. It is in a cool part of town (Laclede's Landing) so we enjoyed walking around and checking things out. We headed back to the hotel after a stop by the arch and then decided to get some more room service for dessert! It was great! Then we came back this morning-we almost didn't make it back because we were quite confused about the shedule of the metrolink and what line was running where, so thankfully my parents just came and picked us up and we were good to go. It was a great weekend and we had a great time together!


The Cathedral


Front of the Cathedral


Mosaic in the ceiling


Inside


More inside


The arch at night


Close up


Tasty Dessert

Nelson got ordained today as a deacon so after some lunch with my folks at Canyon Cafe, we got some delicious custard at the Custard Station to celebrate!


The tasty Custard Station

Semi-Homemade

My brother and sister-in-law will be sorely disappointed in me for my raving about this semi-homemade dessert since they pretty much hate Sandra Lee. But this recipe did not actually come from her, it came from my other sister-in-law, it just completely reminds me of something that would be found on Sandra's semi-homemade show. Don't worry though, when I made it, I was not coordinating with my kitchen and my kitchen was not matching my food. I do draw the line somewhere. Anyway, here is the recipe to a delicious ice cream sandwhich pie.
Take a 9x9 pyrex dish and line it with a layer of ice cream sandwhiches. Then do a layer of cool whip, then another layer of ice cream sandwhiches, another layer of cool whip, then some chocolate sauce and whatever type of cookie/candy crumble you want. It is very delicious and you could even make it with flavored ice cream sandwhich or even a flavored cool whip. Here is what we will be enjoying for our "sweet bite" tonight!

Big number 3!

I think that our anniversary is probably one of my favorite holidays (that is saying a lot since the selfish part of me gets pretty darn excited about my birthday and presents). First and foremost, it is a testimony to God's grace in our lives- the fact that two sinners can be married to each other and love every minute of it is not something to be taken for granted. It is only by God's grace that we are able to get up in the morning and smile at each other, morning after morning. It is also a testimony of Christ's love for us. I am blown away that Nelson loves me unconditionally, especially in light of the times that I have been a less than loveable wife. But he still does. He looks at me in a way that sends chills up my spine and gives me goosebumps. But as much as he loves me, I know that Chirst loves me that much more. The first time Nelson told me that he loved me, I remembered being blown away by that, but I also remember the thought that if a human can love me that much, how much more does my heavenly Father love me. Nelson accepts me for who I am- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Christ does the same thing, and I am often brought to tears when I even attempt to think about how much Christ loves me.
And our anniversary is exciting to think about the year to come! Who knows what it will hold, but at least we get to go through it together!

Here are some pics from three years ago today...









and here are some from today!

Our Long Weekend

We spent the weekend in the Big D and had a great time. Here are some pics from the weekend!


John and Nelson playing the X Box


My sweet temporary tattoo to help me fit in at the John Mayer concert


John Mayer


At the concert


Gin and Winsor at the concert


Fixing a hole


Had to figure something out to put some weight on the patch


New marina spot


John getting ready


Me skiing


Gin just looking cute


Nelson looking so good :)