Who Needs Blue Bell?

Oh dear me, was my sweet tooth in hyper mode last night. Typically, when I'm craving something sweet, it is NOT chocolate. It's either ice cream or something fruity...usually lemon or strawberry flavored. And we didn't have a thing to satisfy it in this house. Bummer.

But then the Lord heard my cry and whaddya know? He sent down manna from heaven! Just kidding =) But seriously, we did get about 10 inches of this...


Snow!!

So what do you do with 10 inches of snow all around you? You make snow cream of course!

So I went outside and gathered up a bowl of pure, WHITE snow! No yellow stuff for this girl, ha!


See? Told you it was white.




Bring in the other key players...milk, sugar, & vanilla.


Mix 1 cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar, & 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla until the sugar dissolves.


Then slowly add the snow to your mixture while constantly stirring. (About 4-5 cups of snow total). Stir until it thickens up just like ice cream.


Sprinkle...


...and enjoy!

Yum!! Better than good ol' Blue Bell...almost. =)

I loved it so much that I went right back outside and gathered up another large bowl of snow to put in the freezer for later on tonight when I'm sure that sweet tooth will return. =)

Blessed

My family has never really been into the whole "picture taking" thing. Oh sure, there are tons of pictures of me and my little sister, but we were never really into documenting much in photographs until two things happened...(1) I moved to Washington and (2) Dad got sick.

Now we try to get pictures every time we're together...at least one family photo anyway. =)

I was looking back over our last few shots together and I had alot of thoughts, but the loudest thought of all was thinking about how blessed we are to be together, all of us. I am so very thankful for that - more thankful that I have ever been in my entire life.

Time with my family is so very precious to me and I cherish every single moment, no matter how big or small. That is one blessing that living so far away has brought to us, we cherish each other even more. Although I miss them terribly and there will always be tears at the airport, and I will always wish they were here with me, there is definitely truth to the saying "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Here are our family pictures from the last couple of years. You will definitely notice how much my Dad has changed and how the cancer aged him so rapidly. I am praying everyday and remaining confident that God is going to heal him, that this disease will be cured and taken away forever. I believe it. It is my heart's greatest desire. It's what I blow out my candles every year wishing. It's what I wish when an eyelash falls out and you hold it between your finger and your thumb. It's what I think about every time I see the clock turn 11:11. Silly, right? Not to this girl. It reminds me to "Pray without ceasing."

I love my family so much. I am blessed to belong to them. Blessed indeed.

Thanksgiving 2009


Summer 2010


Christmas 2010


Summer 2011


Christmas 2011


And yes, my sweet husband is aware that he is wearing the same shirt in both the first photograph and the last, he pointed it out himself. He says he's going to retire it, ha! I guess we'll see in the next photo. :)

A Two-Horse Open Sleigh, Hey!

Jingle bells,
Jingle bells,
Jingle all the way.
Oh what fun it is to ride
On a one horse open sleigh.

I've never really known if it is actually fun to ride on a one horse open sleigh...until yesterday!

My birthday present from my sweetheart was a trip to the Bavarian town of Leavenworth, Washington complete with a sleigh ride and everything!

Our very own sleigh!


One of our beautiful horses, Darlene.


And here's the seat just for us!


Here we go!!


It turned out to be a two-horse open sleigh, but that's okay. I'll just have to sing the lyrics a little bit differently from now on. =)


Not a problem.


So excited!


And we're off!
Dashing through the snow...












It was such fun! When our sleigh ride was over, we went inside this rustic tent to warm up with some hot cider and cocoa and hover around the fire...perfect.



Then we went into the heart of Leavenworth to enjoy the Christmas festivities.

Charming, isn't it?










We went inside this store and sure enough, the name of the store held true - it was "My Favorite Place." We purchased a few of my new favorite things there.


Then it was time to gather around town square for the Christmas tree lighting.



Oooo...look at all the pretty lights!


And it didn't stop there, they lit up the entire town.











And now, here are one of those "new favorite things" we purchased today.

Don't you just love it? I sure do and even more, I love the person that I will always keep falling in love with. I am a blessed girl to be married to Derek Thomas. He sure does make my heart happy. Thanks for making my birthday a super special one - I love you!!

The Best Kind of Ugly

Christmas sweaters! There are a gazillion of them and what one person may see as adorable, there are those of us who see it as the perfect ugly sweater for a party! And that's just the kind of partying we did with our LIFE Group on Monday night. Too much fun!!

**Please don't be offended if you see one of your beloved sweaters in these photos.**

Me & My Handsome, Tacky Husband =)


Our wonderfully tacky friends!

Vance & Molly


Jon & Stephanie


Jason & Rebekah


Eli...such a deep thinker in his pretty snowflake vest.


Justin & Sarah


Mary-Hayden & Isabella

This was Isabella's reaction to "Look at the camera, say cheese." She said, "NOOOOOO!" Love that girl!

And because the back of both mine and Mary-Hayden's sweaters were so much more awesome than the front, we had to get a picture.

Look closely, Mary-Hayden's animals have actual tails...awesome!

And winner of the tackiest outfit of the night...CR! (Here with his lovely wife Tara.)

Check out those red pants! CR found them in the women's section at the Salvation Army and was pretty proud of the fact that he is a women's size 14 - said he even tried them on before purchasing them, bet that turned some heads!

In fact, three of the fellas were wearing women's sweaters. Can't you tell?


First we played the present stealing game, "Dirty Santa," which we learned is called "White Elephant" here in the Northwest...lame. Derek came home with a box of coal. Well, not actual coal but a box of black bubble gum, ha! I got a really neat new dice game called "Pass the Pigs." Fun!

Then we played a rousing game of Pictionary - Christmas Carol Edition.

Isabella got us started.

Here you can see that beautiful smile she was hiding earlier.

Most abstract of the night...this one. Can you guess what it might be?

If you guessed "Santa Clause is Coming To Town" you guessed correctly. Only Vance will know the true interpretation of his artwork.

CR was pretty creative to get the guys to guess "Let It Snow."

See it? Lettuce + Snow = Let it Snow

I didn't get a picture of it, but I had to get my girls to guess "O Come All Ye Faithful." So what did I draw? A geyser shooting up in the middle of Bethlehem. Nice, right? Our new friend Carole guessed it and I was so proud!

Here's a random group shot that I think pretty much sums up the night.

Everyone is smiling and laughing and just having a merry ol' time. That's what life is like with these incredible people. We love our LIFE Group and we're so lucky to have such amazing friends. They are a blessing and we are so thankful for them!