Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Luke 2:11

This Just Pinned

I'm excited to do my first "new format" post! I am not what you would call a trendy girl, in fact I'm quite the opposite. However, there are two trends I have gotten into lately, Facebook and Pinterest. Both are time suckers, so I have to be intentional about how I use them. Pinterest has been really convenient in helping me keep track of interesting things for later use. I use it mostly for tagging recipes, craft tutorials, and activities to do with the boys. I have tried not to get overwhelmed by all the ideas and take them one at a time. It is easy to get overwhelmed and even feel insecure about my abilities as a wife and mother when I see the things others are doing. I know that sounds pathetic, but I'm just keeping it real!

Anyway, I have two ideas, or "pins" to share with you. One is a recipe and one is a craft/decor item. I made this recipe tonight and it was not only a crowd pleaser, but I also snuck veggies in! 2 points for me! I love Broccoli Cheese soup and it just seemed like such a great pre-Thanksgiving meal. I only wish the weather would cooperate and get cooler! We had a party over the weekend and I had left over crudités I wanted to use. This recipe called for broccoli and carrots. I had to google what julienne carrots are. I'm clearly no pro in the kitchen! If I can do this, so can you! It might be easier to use "match stick" carrots if you don't already have baby carrots on hand you need to use. It would save you the chopping, which is always my least favorite part of cooking. I made another minor adjustment to the recipe as it called to puree the soup in its entirety. That much soup wouldn't fit in my blender, so I pureed about half of it and left the rest. I like the actual veggies peeking through too. Anyway, I highly recommend this recipe and my kiddos and hubby gave it 6 thumbs up as well!

Onto the crafts...I am way into crafting. I like to think I get it from my mom, but I am nowhere near as good at it as her. But, I do love doing it and use it as a stress reliever! I have a ton of crafting ideas "pinned" on Pinterest and who knows if I will even get close to making them all. However, I have found sometimes I find 2 or 3 similar "pins" that I end up combining for my own take. In honor of Thanksgiving, I present you with, The Thankful Tree! This was such a fun project and so simple too! I combined it with this idea (another pin) of putting mini pumpkins in a vase with sticks. 

I actually loved the idea so much I shared it with my Sunday School class' women's coordinator, Melanie. We decided to do a women's event and all make the trees for our families to add things they are thankful for. It was a lot of fun and it was so neat to see how each of us took the same materials and made totally unique trees. I cut out the tags on my Cricut so it was super simple. A couple of the ladies found the sticks and I bought the vases for $3 at Garden Ridge. It was a super cheap and very meaningful project with a beautiful end result! Here is a picture of all the ladies with their "trees." Beautiful ladies, with beautiful hearts, and thankfulness overflowing from them! My sweet friend Jackie made the tags tied around the vases. The verse she selected was so appropriate and profound! 

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15 Happy Thanksgiving to you! Enjoy your family and the richness of God's blessings on your life! I know I will! Oh, and happy pining!

A new format and a fresh perspective

Yes, we are still here. I have no good reason for my major blogging hiatus. Other than perhaps I had gotten a bit overwhelmed with trying to keep up with updates and maybe dare I say bored with blogging. I love my family and updating you on all of the fun things we do. But, I think I will give up the idea that every single thing has to be documented on the blog. (Though I do plan to finish and post all the pictures/updates that have been sitting here for 5 months waiting to be published.)

Instead, I've decided to give a broader view of what's going on with our family. No worries, there will still be plenty of adorable pictures of our boys! But, I also want to share more about me and my interests. It may sound selfish, but I think I need a little outlet for talking about the things (other than my family) that I enjoy. I have recently taken sewing and photography classes and continue to enjoy crafting, so I'd like to share what I'm creating. I have also been trying to become a better cook and experimenting with recipes, usually found on Pinterest. If you haven't joined Pinterest, I highly recommend it! So, I think I will join the "This Just Pinned" and "Embrace the Camera" trends to spice things up a bit. I just think it will help me remain engaged in blogging because it will be more enjoyable. Hey, I'm turning 30 next month, so I am entitled to change my mind, but I hope to be more consistent with this new format. Why wait for the New Year to make a resolution, right?!
And because you made it to the end of this non-picture post, a little surprise!

My cuties at "Blueberry Farm," AKA Dewberry Farm

Finally updating

Please forgive me friends and family if in fact you're still checking for an update after my blogging hiatus!  As a gift for your patience I have 5 posts from our Spring Break trip to Keystone, Colorado.  Tons of pictures and a bit of commentary await you!  Just remember to start reading a few posts back and read towards this post.  I hope that makes sense!  Enjoy!

Colorado, the Finale

Our last day in Keystone, Colorado was such a fun finale!  After the snow the night before we knew we had to make another snowman attempt!  This is more like it!

Daddy won major points with the boys when he put his sun glasses on the man of snow!

Of course more snowball warfare occurred between these 3!

After some fun in the snow and a nap we were off to another highlight of our trip, the fondue dinner on top of the mountain!

Jeff explained it to the boys as dinner you cook yourself and they really got into it!

Our family LOVES cheese!

The Bavarian atmosphere was complete with live music!

This induced impromptu dancing between our boys and some random lady sitting behind us!

However, dancing promptly ended when the chocolate began to flow!

Our family during dessert...

and warming up fireside!

The next morning we started the 2 day journey home.  Jeff was really excited to get a picture with Pike's Peak and show it to the boys!

We were all excited to see Texas again

but even more excited to share a little time with the Carpenter clan as we drove through Dallas!  We got to wish Clayton a happy birthday and spend a couple of hours with them before heading home!

Colorado Part 4

On March 17 we took the gondola to the top of the mountain again for some fun in the snow!  It was excellent timing as it had snowed over night.

Keystone has this fun event called Kidtopia that was going on while we were there and this giant snow fort was one of the main attractions of it!  The kids loved it!

My Angel making snow angels

and sibling rivalry expressed in snow ball warfare

And of course more family photos before going tubing!

Angel was really into it which I wasn't necessarily expecting since he can be a bit reserved about heights!

Now our silly J was a bit Out of Control and had to sit out a few runs to make sure he stayed safe.

I was the one that was the most scared initially, but it was really exhilarating!  I would have gone on a lot more runs if it weren't for the "people mover" you had to get on with your tube to get back up to the top.  Now that freaked me out!

J was clearly unfazed by missing out on some runs on the tube.  He entertained himself on the snow drift!  This little ball of energy totally has my heart!

That evening it snowed again and it was simply beautiful to experience as we waited for the shuttle bus to take us back to our hotel after dinner!

Colorado Part 3

Some of my favorite memories from our trip are the times we were just exploring together.

On March 16, we explored River Run Village, beginning with lunch and some family photo ops.

Then we made attempt #1 of building a snowman.  I know it is seriously sad how tiny it was but we made up for it later in the trip!

There was also a snow ball war between these 2 and their daddy!

We also got to experience some amazing views as we took a GPS treasure hunt!

The boys loved helping navigate although we had to confiscate one of the GPS devices to ensure we did in fact make it back to our hotel!

We also went on top of the mountain on the gondola and took some more pictures.

I love my sweet family!