It's over...all over

Yes..the holidays are almost over...


no more wrapping
no more looking for the right present
no more baking
no more decorating
no more high electric bills
no more running from house to house to be with ALL your family

and I miss it!
Already!!

I miss having the things that I am very thankful for right in front of my face.

Through the hustle and bustle of day to day life..I get busy..I get caught up..I forget.

I forget that family is so so so important...to talk to them EVERY day...about everything and nothing.
I forget that just hanging out is worth so much more than presents
I forget that.
I forget that you have to make time to go and just visit with family and friends.
I forget that we can TALK not TEXT.

I forget that we had a man whipped and beaten to die strictly for us.
for ME.

I know God is with me.
I hear him talk to me.
I feel him near.

But sometimes I forget what he really done for me.

All the Christmas songs are over....the Christmas sermons will come again next year..

but January to November .... I need to remember....what is so easy to forget.

God isn't supreme just in December.
He is the same yesterday , today, and forever.

So as all the Christmas decor comes down, the lights slowly go off, the songs fade away....
my love, worship, and praise will not

I will love him, praise him, and thank him .. just like I do in December all year long!

The Christmas Recital

Yep...this is the song I sang.
I can't believe it either.

But I did it. And I got good reviews!!!
yay!
Now I don't know if they were just being nice ... or not...but i will take them at face value and make myself feel good about it!

I know I cracked in at least one spot...but to my defense ...I can NOT breathe with this whole gall bladder thing going on!
I had to have an ultra sound done on Tuesday ...and they said that I would have the results on Monday...so I am just waiting..waiting for them to say it is my gall bladder and I have to go in for surgery to get it taken out.

I know I know..it isnt a hard surgery anymore..I have seen many horrendous scars and heard many horrible stories...but I, myself, have had ZERO surgeries...and I particulary do NOT like them!
So I try not to have surgery often...my brother on the other hand...different story! I think he enjoys them...me ...not so much!

Anyway...I did my best at Natalie Grant's song..I got NO WHERE near how she does it..She is amazing!!
But I actually enjoyed myself!
I practiced ALOT! ALOT!

Here are a few pictures of Lyla practicing with me...
sorry for the blur....it was on my phone...and of course you have to move when you sing..so i couldn't get her to stay still!

This is after practice at Taco Bell..and she was tired of pictures..she said ,
"No More"

lol

phone internet

Yes..i am now thankful for internet on my COMPUTER!!!
I love having internet on my phone..but I am begging our cable company to hurry up and fix this outage before ibpull my hair out!!
I mean the only thing I have to do is laundry and seriously who wants to that...which reminds me I need to put the clothes in the dryer.

Our Annual Pastor's Dinner

I have so much to talk about this time of year...that I have to control myself! :)
So today I am going to focus on our annual Pastor's Dinner.

Every year our Pastor has a dinner for his congregation. Just to say Thank You for being the GREAT people we are!! ha ha! I'm serious! He does!

It is a great time to reflect on what all has happened throughout that year. Sister Judy always collects pictures from everyone throughout the year and makes a slide show of ALL of them! It is amazing to see how fast a year goes by now that I have a child of my own.
I remember those days when the year used to DRAG on for forever...I didn't think Halloween was ever gonna get here!!

Now it just flies by! I still have to get my Christmas cards together and our family newsletter written!! ACK!

I think God speeds up time for you when you become a parent so you don't literally go insane and pull every strand of your hair out! I think he gives us an extra hour in the winter time to sleep because he knows the kids can't go outside and play ...and it saves mothers' sanity and we literally Praise God for that extra hour of darkness!!

Ok..am i the only one that does that?

Moving on...

Sister Myers..our Pastor's wife..decorated the tables..I could tell because she loves using curly willow! She put it in my flowers at my wedding! I have to admit..I love it too!

Everything was beautiful...our Youth put on a little show for us that was HILARIOUS!!!

It was a great night of food, friends, fun, and a lot of laughter!!
What can beat that?

I need to edit some more pictures....more to come!

I am SOLD on Shutterfly!!

I personally have never purchase a Christmas card from Shutterfly..but today I recieved one at my preschool Christmas party!

I have gotten this reminder in my email inbox to write a little post about what I think on Shutterfly ...but i had no review because I have never used them.

Well..after today..
I"M SOLD!

The card was SUPERCUTE!
The pictures were awesome...the writing was clear and readable...the font was cute!

and the best part..
It was thick!

It was a heavy duty thick Christmas card! The kind of Christmas card that would hold up if I wanted to send it from my little town in Arkansas all the way around the world to Norway to my foreign exchange sister!!
Yes! I am Sold!!

And not to mention...they have a bajillion differnt options for you to choose from!!

Look Here!

And..don't stop there..they do more! Not just Christmas cards!!
Go on and look through...

They have Birthday Invitations...which I WILL be using!

Graduation Invitations..

or you could even make your own Wall Calendar with your own pictures...instead of buying some calendar with someone else's pictures that you don't know!!

Wow...Now if that doesn't sell YOU on Shutterfly...I don't know what will!!
Go check it out!!

Employee Christmas Party

Last night was our Employee Christmas Party!!
First of YAY! because there was NO kids!
ugh..that sounded bad..i love my child..but sometimes it is good to get away..far away..

ok..i will just stop digging that whole!

Anyway..the first thing we done was dig into some amazing desserts!! AMAZING!!
I ate so much sweet stuff that any talk about sugar made my stomach hurt.

Then on to Dirty Santa! I brought Nana's Apple Cake Mix from Tastefully Simple..They loved it!
I got a huge stuffed snowman with Chocolate Covered Cherries..woo hoo for me!!
Lyla loved it..I gave it to her when I picked her up from mom's house.

Then we moved onto games..we played alot of games..it was alot of fun!

This one we played was called Reindeer...we had to blow up balloons and put them into pantyhose and make antlers out of them! The first team that got the antlers on thier head won a prize!
Team A won..I was on Team B..but we were close!!

I won alot of cool prizes!! I can't post them because I plan on regifting them! :)
Just Kidding...
I won a candy dish, a beautiful hanging diamond (not real diamonds..so don't rob me) cross, a stationery set, a photo album, a sock monkey (Thanks to Katy for switching me the blue one for the pink one! ..Lyla loves the pink one!)... and more.

Then on top of all that our bosses bought us all gifts!! We got a picture frame with the initial of our last name on it...and an ornament with the initial of our first name! Very cute!

Then we got a gift bag just full of goodies. Always Great!


The last game we played was really cool. We all got to pick a box...they all sounded the same...all in pillowcase boxes ..and we couldn't open them until everyone got one!

They were all gift cards..mine was for Starbucks! Yay! I need the coffee!!

I had a GREAT time! I love the girls I work with..and I absolutely love my job!

Some days I wonder WHY in the world I picked this profession....but when I get that "Good Morning Ms Nikki" every morning...I remember why!! And I wouldn't trade it for anything! :)

Here are a few more funny pictures from our party!!

She was a Candy Cane if you couldn't guess!

Grandma playing Twister

Ha Ha!
Have you ever seen a Grandma playing Twister?
Here ya go!

How cute is that!!
Grandma does the spinner and Lyla does whatever Grandma says..
The bottom picture is "Head on Green"
:)

Then Skip Bo for the adults!!
I lost! Boo!

Good times!
Good memories!!

Steak and Shake

I can't believe I haven't posted these pictures before...

well
wait no longer!

a while ago we went to the Tulsa Zoo..had a good time...but all the walking made us hungry so on the way back home we stopped by Steak 'n' Shake
(very convienent for the guys that it was RIGHT BY the Bass Pro Shop)

But I think we almost had more fun or dang close at Steak 'n' Shake than we did at the zoo!

Now the Aquarium in Jenks, OK...that is a different story! That is a great place to go! I reccomend that to anyone!

ok..moving on..here are some awesome pictures!

Kisses for Nanny...i love this picture!!

This is my crazy wonderful brother!

That is one great pair...I love them love them..with all my heart!

How could you NOT love that face?

Ask his English teacher.

This is my darling husband..who is going to hate me for putting his picture on my blog..but hey..that is what us sarcastic wonderful wives do!

Oh..I love memories like these..great times! I look forward to so so so many more!

The Greatest Gift

I loved reading Heather's idea of the greatest gift ever over at But Mom Said

and now it is my turn in this bloggy chain to let you all know what I think is the greatest gift.

If you know me..then you read my blog! ha!

No really...if you know me then you know that I love going to church. I love being involved in my church...

so as soon as i read the Greatest Gift Ever was our topic for this blog chain....

first thing that came to my mind was

Jesus

What better gift could you ask for...than for someone to lay thier life down for you so that you may have forgiveness when you mess up....and mess up ...and mess up again?

He didn't just lose his life...it wasnt a quick thing...

he was ridiculed

he was beaten

he was whipped

he bled

he cried

he pleaded with God

he didn't want to

who would?

but he did

because not our will be done

but God's will be done!

He did

for us

to live

live a life that is pleasing to God

through all that

.... not a bone was broken....because nothing is broken on my God...he is PERFECT!

He knows what he is doing

He knows me

my secrets

my joys

my fears

my failures

He heals me

restores me

treasures me

comforts me

That is what I call a gift.

and I couldn't ask for a better one.

Now ...head on over to Margaret's blog The World As I See It to see what she thinks is her Greatest Gift!
Have a great day!

Take time to watch the leaves turn

Meet Me Monday

Slow Down Sunday

This whole time change thing is rough on  my little girl!

I just had the scare of my life..

Great day...sitting here at my computer wasting time while i should be cleaning...

Lyla watching Mickey Mouse and putting all her baby dolls down for nap time

Then the lights start flashing.......

then they came on.

OK...hmm?

then they start blinking again....like someone was turning them off and on really fast..
then they would half way go off and on...just dim...then come on...

then...all of them went out.

What's the first thing I think?

Ghost!

Oh God!

Do I talk to it?

Do I tell it to leave?

Should I grab the video camera for Paranormal Activity 3!?

The next thing I think is...............

ELECTRICAL SHORT!

Grabbed Lyla threw clothes on her....ran a quick list through my mind of what important papers i need to grab before my house burns to ashes!

***all my thinking was happening while my lights were going crazy***

when all the lights went off...what did I do?

called my mommy!!

Her lights were doing the same thing!
What...do we both have a ghost?
We will need one more video camera.

Praise God ....I do not have a ghost in my house..nor does my mom...

but this is what was happening.....



A transformer blew at a local substation....this is a picture of the smoke about 5 miles away. Thousands of people in our area are out of electricity...some have been hearing it could be up to three days..maybe even a week.

I pray that no one's house was damaged in this event...I pray that they didn't lose anything valuable or important..I pray for the electric men who have to fix all this.

They had electric men coming from towns as far as an hour away.

This was scary for me...for a few different reasons...

1. I obviously do believe in ghosts.

2. If our house was on fire...I could have gotten me and lyla out..but I had no clue what else to grab!

What would you take?

pictures, important papers, clothes....

Once the thought crossed my mind that my house is an earthly thing...it isn't a treasure stored up for me in Heaven...it can be taken away from me...I panicked...my mind went blank on what was most important besides getting my daughter out of the house and far away.

So tell me...if you had one minute to gather what it most important to you and get out of your house that is going up in flames...What would you take with you?