Game Weekend

This was a pretty good weekend! My father-in-law came to visit and we played a lot of games and ate some good food. Here are a few pictures of the events:

Keith and Josh playing ping pong. Glad to see the dining room table get used for something!

My first game of Small World. Getting my geek-on.

My game choice: Life.

Amber and Tyler came to play on Sunday.

Me and Josh

Bojangles is making heart shaped biscuits :)

My father-in-law brought me the cutest little heart and star shaped cupcake maker. We did make some today, but we ate them too quickly to get a picture of them. I'll try to take some pics next time. As for running, that didn't happen this weekend!

Hello February!

Today is already February 1st! January went by so quickly, I still feel like I am spinning. January is usually a tough month as you calm down from all the family gatherings for the holidays, recover from the spending crazy and paying Christmas bills, and settle back into a normal work schedule. This January was special because it welcomed a new member to our family when Carrie had Baby Luke. That was a nice distraction!

The weather was absolutely crazy! We've had at least 3 snow "storms" - meaning snow fell. Luckily, I was able to work from home on two occasions and the third was such a minor drift it was easy to travel and actually melted within a few work hours. I didn't even take a picture of it. It snowed on the 25th and was 60+ degrees three days later just to dip again.

Snow #1 1-18-13

Snow #2 1-25-13

Snow #2 again

Our big news of the month is we officially started going to a new church. We had been visiting Movement Church for a few months but decided in January it would be our home church. It's very exciting as we went to our first community group meeting this week. It's very similar to the small groups we are used to from the Bridge in NC. We meet once a week, share dinner and fellowship for an hour, then do a study of some type for an hour. It feels good to start branching out and getting to know people here in VA. I've missed connecting with other believers. We had such an awesome group of people in NC (Bohanon's, Church's, Tate's, Bailey's, Perkins' ... so many ...) and that left a whole in my heart. It's cool how certain people in our new group already remind me friends back home! I look forward to growing closer to God and these new friends over 2013!

Otherwise, nothing new going on here. I've been baking and loving it! I hope as Spring gets closer I can start walking/running again. I'm trying to not hold myself to a schedule cause that feels too much like work. I should enjoy it more and feel guilty less. We'll see how that goes! I walked the two really nice weather days and it felt great once it was over.

Meet Luke David

Not too much has happened lately. I mean, other than the birth of my newest nephew Luke. That's a lot in and of itself! Here's a couple cute pics of him:

Good pic of Nana and Papa on Luke's bday

Katie and Elijah were so excited

I'm ready to spoil him ...

I love this pose!

Here's a glimpse at the snow we got on Thursday night.

I'm starting to feel the need to start running again. I'm just waiting on the desire. I know I need to, I just don't want too! The running stopped but the eating has picked up quite a bit ... thanks Pinterest! I made these cookies yesterday and they are the best ones I've had so far! They are from  www.sallysbakingaddiction.com and I'll definitely be checking out her blog for more ideas.

Yum!!! What a great way to use sprinkles. Photo credit to www.sallysbakingaddiction.com. Why didn't I take my on pic yesterday? Maybe it's cause I was too busy eating them ....

This is the first time my outcome actually looked like what I saw on pinterest. My goal is to share my experience with Pinterest more often.

New Year - New Goal

My new goal (not a resolution) for 2013 is to document our life a little more often. I'm intrigued by the 365 photo challenge but sometimes there might be more than one picture that needs posting or there could be days when there is no reason to post anything (we are boring!) and I don't want to be constrained by that or feel like I have to post. This will be my attempt at documenting the year 2013!

January 1st! Portrait of me at the start of the new year ... decked out in new Christmas gear: App State sweater and cozy sweater boots.

January 1b - my view for most of the day:

I love these sweater boots. I hate taking them off. They are way more comfortable than I ever thought. Great buy Trophyhus!

January 2nd:

I developed a cold and Mom suggested a concoction of apple cider vinegar and honey. It didn't taste good and I'm not sure if it worked, but I did it twice. It taste pretty gross - like vinegar with honey ... it's all the rage on the internet ... I'm not sure it helped a ton, but I did feel better after I taking it.

Jan 5th: Lunch with Mom, Ty, and Amber ... why didn't I take a picture?

Jan 6th: Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies from Pinterest

These were pretty good - not great, but good. Very chocolaty. I made a little over two dozen cookies and cleaned up within about an hour. That's not too bad considering I'm still getting used to my mixer. Please let me know if you have any great recipes for a newbie with a mixer!

You'll notice, there are no baby pics in this entry. Baby Boy Gaston is holding his own. Today was his due date and I don't know who is more ready for him to make his entry - his parents or his aunts! Good news is it is definitely this week. No worries - I'll be a good aunt and post plenty of pics to torture him with when he is a teenager.

With everyone dieting and exercising, I feel the need to move a bit more. All this baking is going to make it a necessity instead of a hobby! For now, I'm running to work tomorrow so I can share these cookies! If I don't keep them all, I can't eat them all! Right?

Where have I been?

It's been a while since I posted (September to be exact!) ... so where have I been? Here. Doing nothing! We are pretty boring and I'm ok with that. It's just been work, home, sleep, repeat. Below are a few pics I snapped with the phone. Someone might find this interesting:

September:

Josh playing with Katie and Elijah 

Amber and Sam got me new earrings :)

 October:

Carrie and I shared a Nutella Crepe at Baker's Crust - delish!

Phone cover for a while

First attempt at Banana Bread - not bad

Fall Decor

Apple Pies for work potluck

Danielle visits!

And we made cookie-PB cup-brownies! 

Tim Hawkin's concert in Greensboro

for Jeremy's bday!

Katie and Lij got new shirts

and Katie likes to make funny faces for photos

I got in for a quick picture. Lij's shirt says it all - My Auntie Rocks ... and she does (Cause it's me)!

Carrie needed a stache photo for work and I helped. So I took one of myself too ... it was for work, right? 

Josh and I went to the Landmark Theater to see the Grinch

Got my first stand mixer

Front door decor

Christmas lovin' from Boston

Stache fun with Samson. He wasn't feeling good in this pic but was a good sport. 

Fun with a new cookie press

I think based on these photos I might need to put the stache down ... but they are so funny!

What have I been running for? Well, I've been running from running ... and you can see all the delicious yummies I've had over the past few months. With the new mixer, better get out of my way cause there's going to be more! I better start running again!

Trophyhus is in Love

Three states, the District of Columbia, and over 8 hours of driving and my husband is now the happiest man on earth! At least, for now ... Yesterday we journeyed to Pennsylvania to buy him a new car - his dream car. There was nothing wrong with his Toyota Yaris, it was just a bit slow in the acceleration area. With his commute to and from work requiring several heavily traveled interstates with speeds limits of 70 mph, I kind of felt sorry for him. One can only be passed by the IMAP truck a few times before giving up completely ... For the past few months Josh has been doing deep research for his next car. This was no whim. In fact, I don't know if we have ever looked into a single purchase this much! He has watched countless videos and bored me to tears - but the results were oh so worth it :)

Here he is - love at first sight:

Driving off the lot:

Not sure if you can tell, but this is him on the drive home from my side mirror - grinning.

That smile stayed on his face all day! It really hasn't left since.

I'm officially the best wife ever! Or so I am told hourly. It's part of the deal - he gets a new car and I get told how awesome I am on a regular basis. It's the least I could do, right?

Seriously, I am so thrilled that he is so happy! I'm just wondering how I am ever going to top this!

What am I running for these days? Well, running is used lightly but I have been back for PT with my trainer twice and I have an appointment tomorrow ... so lemon bars tonight won't hurt anything.

It's been a year already?

I have celebrated my one year anniversary at my new job in a new state ... whew! A year already? Time is absolutely flying by! It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in NC working at RMIC ... and then bam I was transported to VA! I cannot believe it.

I am still really liking my new job. It is such a different atmosphere. I think I can totally make it challenging and rewarding for years to come. I know so much more today than I did a year ago and that's just the tip of the iceberg. That's a bit exciting and intimidating at the same time.

We are starting to get settled into the house now. Josh's family has even come in for a visit. It was so much fun having people in the house! Having a one year old crawling and walking around is challenging, but boy was he fun! It was very sad and quiet when they left last Sunday. I enjoy the quiet but it's nice to have commotion every now an then!

Otherwise, things are the same for us. Work, home, sleep, repeat. I find comfort in the routine. It is very interesting as I keep seeing NC post where kids have started back to school and I can tell that my mind and body are longing for fall. Here in VA, most schools don't start until closer, if not after, Labor Day. I don't want to wish my life away, but I am looking forward to fall. I can tell the days are getting shorter as it is getting dark by 8pm and not the 9pm I was enjoying a month ago.

Running??? Oh, how I have fallen off that path! This past year has not been an exercise year for me. I'm hoping to get the motivation to change that, though it's not looking too good as I dream of pumpkin pie, hot chocolate, and Thanksgiving dinner :) But being as we still have some summer left, I think I'll go enjoy another delicious Chocolate Eclair ...