You're Only as Old as You Feel

This video makes me smile.:)  I'm going to teach Scott how to play the piano so this can be us some day!

Kathleen Marie 10.12.1961-2.24.2006

(The lay out of the blog cuts off the right side of the collage so just click on any image above to see the whole thing in it's entirety.)

Today is the 4 year anniversary of my mom's death. 

I thought it would be healing for me today to make a collage and share a little bit.  I blogged about her here on her 48th birthday last year and received so much feedback that I decided to share more.  It was so inspiring and encouraging for me to hear from and connect with others who were hurting from her loss as well.

Even though it's hard sometimes, I am still trusting God as the blessed controller of all things, and know that my life will be a continuing healing process.  I love her.  I miss her.  I want her here healthy and living.  But since I can't have that, I choose to be thankful for her life and for all she taught me.  I am thankful for my continued growth every day and for God's healing in my life.  I'm thankful for my family, friends, mentors, and mom figures that have helped in my healing, and I am thankful for the many glorious years that my mom tremendously blessed the lives of others.  While it is impossible to forget the hard times, I will treasure happy memories of her forever and can't wait to dance with her in heaven some day.

I know my family would love to read any happy memories you have of her if you would like to share in the comments section below.:)

Family Reunion

We went to a Valentine's Day themed family reunion last weekend.  Here are two quick snapshots.  The first one is our adorable nephew Colin playing with Scott's cheeks and the second is of my sister in law Christie and I having some fun with some sexy wax lips!!  HOT.

Dog Drama

 Just a quick update on Mr. Sam.  The Valley Fever test came back negative and since the blood tests were inconclusive it was either get x-rays and/or antibiotics.  We chose the antibiotic route praying that it would help and we wouldn't need to do x-rays.  Before we could even get the prescription filled, he started eating again and slowly started regaining some energy.  Now, I have to stay in the kitchen and keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't eat Sadie's food too when I'm not looking.  Now that's my boy!  We are so relieved that he's okay and that we don't have to spend a million dollars figuring out what's wrong with him.  Now if we could just find a remedy for his awful dog farts.  They're HORRIBLE!

I couldn't find any recent pics of Sam for this post but I did find these!

Cute pic of Sam from Valentine's Day of last year.

Funny accidental pic of the dogs a few months ago when we were trying to take a Christmas photo.  Love Scott's face in this one.  He told me not to post this so we'll see if he notices and makes me take it down later haha....

Comfortable or Complacent?

Every day I wake up, look over at my wonderful husband, and thank God for all he has blessed us with.  I am thankful for our jobs, our homes, our church, our pups, our families... the list goes on.

But somewhere in there I wonder if I hold too tightly to the material things that make me feel secure.   I wonder if I am too comfortable, and if I give God enough room to move in my life.

I wonder how open my eyes are to new opportunities, and what God would do if I held everything in my life more loosely.  I love my life.  I'm comfortable.  But what if God wanted Scott and I to give up everything in our comfortable Phoenix bubble and do something radical?  Would we be open to that?

I just don't want to be guilty of not surrendering everything to Him.  He has blessed us with so much, but I don't want to get into the every day trap of routine and not open my eyes to what God is doing all around me.

I don't think it's wrong to be comfortable, but I also don't want to be too comfortable where I am not listening wholeheartedly to what/where God is calling me.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love Valentine's day.  I always have.  I know people make fun of it, get all bitter if they're not in love, and/or say it's just a Hallmark holiday or whatever, but I never saw a problem with celebrating love whether it was a romantic kind of love or not.  

Sometimes I try too hard not to be cheesy and make people throw up in their mouths.  But today I'm feeling the love in the air, this is my blog, and I completely and utterly adore my husband.  So if you don't like corny, you should probably "X" out of this right now.  You've been warned.

50 Reasons Why my Husband is an AMAZING Valentine

 (in no particular order)

1) Loving, sincere heart

2) Gorgeous blue eyes

3) Cute smile

4) Man of integrity

5) Makes me laugh

6) Honest and trustworthy

7) Very intelligent

8) Easygoing 

9) Laidback

10) Fun to be around

11) Perfect hugging height

12) Makes me feel safe

13) Makes me feel adored

14) Loves me unconditionally

15) Spiritual leader

16) Knowledgeable about the Bible

17) Strong relationship with God

18) Values family

19) Has great guy friends who I like too

20) Same priorities/values as me

21) Genuine

22) Witty

23) Loves dogs

24) Spoils me

25) Cooks

26) Cleans

27) We make a great team

28) Likes to buy me flowers

29) Romantic and sensitive

30) Amazing listener

31) Good at comforting me

32) Loves movies

33) Gives the best massages!

34) Dedicated to anything he puts his heart into

35) Hard worker

36) Similar mindsets

37) Cute when rapping to his ghetto music

38) Encouraging

39) Good friend to those around him

40) Has a servant's heart

41) Makes me want to be a better person

42) Best friend

43) Still opens my car door

44) Smells amazing

45) Is always warm and cuddly

46) Good at spending quality time

47) Love the way he writes, good at poetry

48) Is a walking human dictionary

49) Good at thinking of creative, fun dates

50) The love of my life for eternity

I think we hear enough negativity in the media about marriage/dedicated and loving relationships.  There are tons of happy, loving couples out there!  So YOUR TURN.  Why is your husband/fiance/boyfriend an amazing Valentine??:)  Bring on the cheese and feel free to brag a little.

Fixin up the House Little by Little!

We are working on updating our house a bit and putting in some fun contemporary touches.   First stop was the bathrooms.  My wonderful fix it man hubby spent the past 2 weekends installing new light fixtures, painting, and hanging new mirrors in the two upstairs bathrooms.  I didn't think to take "before" pictures, so the "before" pics are from when we first moved in and you have to use your imagination a little bit!  You can't see the mirrors that were replaced but they were just the standard flat mirrors you see in most new homes and the old light bulbs are shown below.

Upstairs Guest Bath Before and After

Master Bath Before and After

Legislative Action Needed

We have all heard about the recent budget cuts in the Phoenix Police Department.  Because of these cuts, The Phoenix Police Vice Squad that is working directly with the perpetrators and victims of child sex slavery in our city will also be cut by approximately 50% unless we do something.  The Vice Squad was recently already cut by 1/3 not too long ago.  These officers fight to save children from sex slavery on the front lines.  Please help.

We need 1,000 signatures and are only at 665.

Please click HERE to sign a petition to the Phoenix City Council.

Down with the Sickness

It's crazy what a couple of trips to the vet and a sick animal can do to my stress level and my checking account.  

Mr. Sam is sick....  He started acting weird last week when he stopped eating (usually swallows most of his dish whole in about 2.5 seconds) and being his usual perky self (he's a 1 year old pup... energy level: abundant).  My normal happy loveable teddy bear has turned into a lethargic unmoveable mass of saddness on my floor.  

We paid $200 some dollars to do a blood test that was inconclusive... so just shelled out another $130 today to pay for a Valley Fever test which would mean he would then be on meds for anywhere from 6 mo-1 year.  We'll find out the results of the test in 2-5 days.

If it's not that, it's very possible that he could have ate a tennis ball, river rocks, or some other large foreign object that I have not found missing in my house yet.  So that would require x-rays, possible surgery, and who knows what else.  Why can't he just tell us what's wrong?  And how can vets be so expensive?  I feel really bad for Sam... and am also wondering how vets can charge so much. 

Oh, Sam.... (sigh).