Thankful and Inspirational...

First of all I'm excited for a long weekend. But of course on the first day of the long weekend it is rainy :-( I have a million errands to run today but wanted to take a moment to just reflect a bit on life.

I'm thankful for many things in my life.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my amazing husband. Brian is my backbone and my crutch. He has brought so much joy and love to my life. You're everything a wife could want and more, You're a wonderful husband that I truly adore.

I'm thankful for my amazing family. I'm thankful for all the moral and ethics my parents instilled in me when growing up. I'm thankful for having such a close relationship with my parents and my brother. “When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.” -Joyce Brothers

Today I came across the quote "Live the life you've always dreamed of"...

It is when you decide to do one thing, and not another, that you define your life. Your choices are who you are. When you don't choose, when you let things just happen to you, you are choosing to let the choices be made for you. When you don't choose, when you do something simply because you have always done it, or because it seems sorta kinda to be what is expected of you, maybe, you are giving up your only opportunity to define who you are and what your life means. Don't let that opportunity slip by. The process of creating your own life through your own choices is not easy.

You weigh all the considerations, you think hard about what matters to you, about your moral values, about what sort of person you want to become, and about what you want to accomplish.

Dreams are not fulfilled overnight but are accomplished through years of goal setting, moving forward one step at a time, often with setbacks along the way. But for those who reach for their dreams and are driven by a sense of commitment they will achieve something special.

"Let go of the past and go for the future. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined."-Henry David Thoreau

Baby Trevor

My cousin Tami (her and I are only 6 months apart and grew up together) and her husband Justin adopted a sweet little boy named Trevor back in February. He was only a couple days old. Fast forward to August he is now 6 months old and cute as ever. They recently went on their first family vacation to Colorado so the following are some of their most recent pics

Insomnia

So the last two nights I've went to bed at a decent time but have woken up both nights around 2a and can't fall back asleep until 4a-4:30a. It's so frustrating. I lay there wide awake in bed and think about a million things and keep telling myself, sleep, sleep but it doesn't work. Eventually I start yawning so I think I'll fall asleep soon and it doesn't happen. So the only thing that has worked is that after two hours of being awake I drink a glass of milk and within 15 minutes I'm out. So if it happens again tonight I'm definitely drinking the milk if I'm still awake after 15 minutes and not waiting until 2 hours later. Needless to say I'm sure the sleepless nights are going to catch up with me soon. :::yawning as I'm typing:::

Tasty Tuesday

Another recipe compliments of my cousin Shelby's Pampered Chef Recipe Email

No Bake Snickers Cheesecake--need I say more???

1 ready made graham cracker crust
8oz. cream cheese
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
1 12 oz. cool whip
1 king-size snickers candy bar, broke up into bite size pieces.

Let cream cheese stand to get to room temp. Take 1/2 the jar of ice cream topping and spread in bottom of crust... in a medium size bowl whip up the cream cheese, add the rest of the jar of ice cream topping, and mix well. Whip in the cool whip, then with a spoon fold in the snickers candy pieces.

Spread into the crust, refrigerate for at least an hour. Serve! (Keep refrigerated)!!

Some more pics of Baby Kambry

She's so precious I can't resist posting more pics...

Mother and Daughter, PRICELESS...

Her Daddy reading her first bedtime story

So adorable

One of my bestest friend's, Jackie, had her first baby last Sunday. She had an ADORABLE baby daughter named Kambry. Jackie and I have been friends since kindergarten and times like these make me really miss her and miss all my friends back home in Nebraska. I really wish I could be there to see the new baby but for now I'll patiently wait for new photos. Thanks to Rachel for sending me these pics. Kambry is absolutely beautiful...

Her Hospital Pic

One Week Old

One Week Old

Fay Continues...

to sit right over our area. Yesterday surprisingly was very quiet. We had very little rain and no wind due to being in the eye of the tropical storm. Around midnight last night the rain and wind started back up. This morning's drive to work was soooo scary. The rain was blowing in sheets making visibility very poor and the wind gusts would move the car over the line...I was tempted to turn around and go home. The parking lot at work looked like a lake. There is alot of standing water but it hasn't reached "flooding" proportions in our area yet. Here's the latest radar as of 12:43pm


And of course we had to have a little tropical storm fun with our spoiled rotten furbaby last night so Brian built him a fort out of pillows on our bed. His favorite thing to do is to hide under pillows...he's crazy and always up for a photo shoot :-)

Tropical Storm/Hurricane Update

So the storm has slowed to 5 mph so it's taking forever to move through Florida which means it's dumping alot of rain. Some parts of Florida are already flooding and there has been one tornado so far. We started getting wind gusts last night but only occasional rain. Today it is supposed to get worse in our area and last until this weekend. They are predicting that the storm may bounce off the coast into the ocean and then come back inland as a Category 1 Hurricane...ugh!




Also a new wave has started off the tip of Africa (they almost always hit Florida) and they say it's about a week out. I'm sensing an active hurricane season :-(

The only good thing is that they are sending us home from work at Noon today, we are off tomorrow and a decision will be made late Thursday on weather or not we have to work Friday. No word yet on if Brian will be able to leave work early today though.

Tasty Tuesday

A recipe compliments of my cousin Shelby. She obtained this recipe from Pampered Chef and emailed it to me yesterday. It sounds delicious and I can't wait to try it!!

Patio Party Fajitas--unbelievably good 'grill' meal!!!
Prep time: 15 minutes
Marinating time: 6-8 hours or overnight
Grill time: 17-21 minutes

Marinade
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup veget able oil
3-4 medium jalapeno peppers
3 garlic cloves, pressed
3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, snipped
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/ 4 teaspoon salt

Fajitas
1 beef flank steak (1 1/2-2 pounds)
2 medium green bell peppers
6 sweet onion slices, cut 1/2 inch thick
12 (6-7 inch) flour tortillas

Optional toppings: Salsa, shredded Mexican cheese blend, sliced pitted ripe olives and sour cream

1. For marinade, combine lime juice and oil in Small Batter Bowl. Cut jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise; carefully remove seeds and membranes. Chop finely with Food Chopper. Add to Batter Bowl along with garlic pressed with Garlic Press, cilantro snipped with Kitchen Shears and remaining ingredients; mix well.

2. Place steak and marinade in resalable plastic food storage bag; turn to coat. Marinate in refrigerator for 6-8 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

3. For fajitas, prepare grill for cooking at medium temperature. Cut bell peppers into quarters; remove membranes and seeds. Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade. Place steak, bell peppers and onions on grid of grill. Grill uncovered for 17-21 minutes or until steak is medium rare (145 degrees) to medium (160 degrees) doneness and vegetables are tender, tuning occasionally using Bar-B-Tongs and Bar-B-Boss. Remove steak and vegetables from grill.

4. Wrap tortillas in heavy-duty aluminum foil; grill 5-7 minutes to warm. Cut bell peppers into strips and onion slices in half. Carve steak diagonally across the grain into thin slices. to serve, place steak and vegetable slices in center of each tortilla. Top with salsa, cheese, ripe olive and sour cream, if desired.

Hurricane Update

So "Fay" is still a tropical storm and may not even make it to hurricane strength which is good news. Basically there will be alot of wind and rain starting late tonight and lasting until sometime late Wednesday. Here's the latest tracking map

The weekend...

Last night we went to Brian's Aunt's house and Brian got to see his Uncle Tony who is here visiting in Florida for a week. The last time Brian saw his uncle was almost 10 years ago. It was great to see the excitement on Tony's face and Brian wishes Tony was staying longer so he could spend more time with him.

This morning I took Gizmo to the vet and had his stitches removed. As soon as we got into the exam room he started shaking and hid under the chair. He also got a booster shot today.

Our plans were to head to the beach but it's really overcast so we'll see what the day brings.

We also need to start preparing for what may be a hurricane this week.

Day Four

So for the fourth day in a row I woke up with a stiff neck. On Monday it was really bad and painful. I put icy hot on my neck, took some pain reliever and luckily got Brian to rub my neck. Tuesday morning I woke up and it still wasn't gone. I honestly felt like if I moved my neck something would pop and I'd be paralyzed-that's how much pain and tension there was. So Tuesday night I switched pillows to a firmer pillow. Yesterday I woke up and it was still sore but not as bad. As the day wore on it got better. Today it was sore when I woke up and it's starting to get better and not as tight but there's still the constant dull pain. I'm praying it'll be gone by the weekend...

My cousin's engagement photos

My cousin Kris recently got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Deena. They are such a cute couple and although I have only met Deena once, I absolutely love her. She is so sweet!

Today Deena sent me an email that they had engagement photos done and linked me to the photographer's website for a few pics. They are such great photos that I have to share. Also, my aunt custom made the dress Deena is wearing in the pics. They haven't set a wedding date yet but I think it'll be sometime in 2010.

Here's a short version of the engagement story via the photographer's website.
Kris completely surprised Deena by asking her to marry him while they were on a hike in Maine. They go hiking a lot (with their adorable dog) and so Kris really picked the perfect location to propose. Unfortunately, the fog and clouds were SO thick that day, that you literally couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of you. You can just imagine the gorgeous backdrop at the summit just after Kris proposed, but those clouds and fog completely had them surrounded! What makes this an even better story, though, was that a stranger happened to walk by just after they got engaged and offered to take a picture with their camera. They soon found out that this man had proposed to his wife 10 years earlier at the same exact location. It was just perfect!



They will also be featured on HGTV "My House is Worth What?" filming next week but won't air until the springtime.

The two men in my life...

I feel so lucky to have two great guys in my life that show me unconditional love everyday...

Video for my Dad

I started working on this before Father's Day and never got it done in time but I just finished it today and will probably show my Dad over Christmas when I see him next. I know he doesn't check the blog so posting this won't spoil the surprise...The song in this video is the song we used at the wedding for our Father/Daughter Dance.

Gizmo Update

Yesterday afternoon I went back to the vet's to pick up Gizmo. When I met with the vet he told me that Gizmo was doing a great job recovering. He was awake and moving around alot. He said to try to keep him from running and jumping until the stitches come out (next Saturday). So we get to the car and before I could pick him up he tried to get in the car himself then quickly realized he was unable. I put him in the car in the driver's seat thinking he'd walk over the little middle console to the passenger side and Nope he couldn't because he was to sore so I gently picked him up and put him on the passenger side. He laid still the whole way home.

When we got home he was moving so slow. He went into our bedroom and laid down. Usually he follows me around the house but he was still pretty out of it from the anesthesia. The doctor also said he could experience some nausea and to only feed him half of what he regularly eats and half water but today he should be back to a normal feeding/watering. He wouldn't drink any water so I got some ice cubes and he did lick those. I then tried a piece of his favorite treat and he smelled it then turned his head. After that he started to dry heave for about 10 minutes. Poor guy :-(

As the night progressed I could tell the anesthesia was starting to totally wear off and he was very sore. I tried to give him his pain med and he wouldn't take it, so I had to open his mouth and stick it in the back of his mouth. He spit it out about 3 times, then the last time he finally gave in. Within about 30 minutes he was trying to keep his eyes open and looked very droggy.

Around 9:30p, Brian got home from work and took off his shoes then laid on the floor and cuddled with Gizmo. All of a sudden Gizmo perked up because Daddy was home and started walking around and definitely seemed to be feeling better. Of course Daddy feeds him all the time so Daddy put sauce in his food and he ate for the first time. After eating and drinking some more water he seemed back to normal.

When we went to bed though, he wanted up on the bed but since our bed is so high up we discouraged him from trying to jump on the bed. He eventually laid beside the bed and went to sleep.

This morning he is moving a little slow but not bad. He's showing no signs of pain. He went to the bathroom with no problems, is eating again and started to lick the stitches (which we are trying to get him not to) The vet said males almost always take out their own stitches before the appointment for removal.

Here's some pics from today of his stitches and Daddy feeding him as always...