Cherished

It's been a long time since I've sat down to write out a blog post. I had every intention of doing one in January and then time got away from me. And now we are nearing the end of March.

I'm writing this on a plane on my way home from Colorado. Of course this won't be published until quite awhile after I get home. But my heart hurts and it's time to write some words down about why.

My beautiful CO bestie, that I cherish so very much, lost her amazing sister this past week. She fought a long almost 7 year battle with cancer. She did it. She fought hard and she no longer has to fight anymore.

I remember the very first time I met her. It was just days before she found out she had cancer. She was so full of joy, even though she had no idea why her body was doing such strange things. We went on to develop a sweet friendship. I got to spend time with her on almost every one of my trips to Colorado. We bonded over our mutual love of Gilmore Girls and Harry Potter. She surprised my husband and I two Christmases ago with scarfs she crocheted in our Hogwarts house colors. She would also write me the sweetest texts and comments on my Instagram. I feel like I barely knew her but knew her so well at the same time. She instantly made me feel so loved and cherished.

Her heart for other people, for the hurting and broken, for those everyone else would ignore, was so precious. There will never be another person on this earth just like Mary. She was a special gift. A gift I'm glad to have known, even for the short time that I had with her.

I got to say goodbye to her this weekend and celebrate her life. It was such a hard day, but it was also so very beautiful. We cried a lot, we laughed, we talked about how amazing she was and we danced. She truly would have loved every minute of that day. I'm not sure that I've ever been to a funeral that "perfect" before. It was Mary through and through.

I will miss her random texts. I will miss her kind words. I will miss her voice and how truly happy she was to see me whenever I was there for a visit. I will miss so much but I will always cherish and treasure every single interaction I ever had with her.

Oh Ten. And Oh Eleven. Two Oh One Seven

No more apologizing. It's just late!

October and November were both busy months!

October was full of lots of crazy stuff! I did a lot of events with LuLaRoe. Josh went on a youth staff retreat.

I got to go to the Museum of Ice Cream! I found out about it on Instagram earlier in the year from someone I follow. It's one of those super hard places to get tickets for, but somehow I managed to get some! It was a super fun day and I loved every square inch of that place!

We also went to our friend S.W.'s annual Halloween party. It's always such a fun time! We had such a hard time deciding on our costumes this year but I think they turned out pretty amazing!

 

And we went to a corn maze with some friends. It's one of our favorite things to do in the fall and I'm so glad we were able to.

(It was SUPER windy that night!) 

Josh's dad had to have surgery in October (and thankfully everything went well and he's doing great!), so Josh was out of town a few days because of that. Josh's grandma also passed away, which was very sad. We both loved her a lot and miss her very much.

******

November kind of came as a whirlwind after the crazyness of October.

Our friend S.W. took some amazing pictures of us at the beginning of November! We got to go to one of my favorite spots in California that I hadn't been to in years. It was a really fun afternoon!

(PC: Scot Woodman Photography)

I participated in a women's tea event at our church again. It's always fun to see how everyone decorates their tables! And the food is incredible! My friend L.B. and I have gone together the last two years and we had so much fun together!

We went wine tasting and had a great time! It's one of my favorite things to do with Josh, or with friends, because it's so relaxing and fun!

Josh had a conference for work, so he was gone for a few days for that. After he got back, we celebrated Thanksgiving early with my family! We had a really nice day! My mom made lasagna and it was delicious! I like doing non-traditional meals sometimes for the holidays.

We also had our annual Friendsgiving dinner with some friends. It's one of the things I look forward to so much every year.

I also signed up to be a Color Street Stylist! I know, I know, I'm a little crazy...but it's been super fun! I had a launch party and I participated in a couple of events for that in November!

And now it's already the middle of December and 2017 is almost over. I have so many more thoughts I want to share, but never enough time to do so! I hope to be back here soon!

Life is Precious

This past week has been a mix of fun and tough.

Josh and I went on a trip to our favorite place (Disneyland) last week. The night before we left, I had this horrible dream that we got in a car accident on our way down there. It made me feel a little shaky, so I spent some time praying after I woke up. Crazy thing was, on our way down there, we drove through the scene of an accident just minutes after it happened. We stopped to get gas at one point and I debated about stopping at a Starbucks as well, but decided to go ahead and stop. If we wouldn't have stopped, we could have been involved in that accident.

As we were driving through, very slowly to avoid the glass and other debris in the road, I started crying looking at the wreckage around us. One of the cars was so smashed in, I didn't even know if the driver would still be alive. There was a big pickup halfway up the center divide with a trailer attached. We saw at least six vehicles that were involved in the accident. I started praying out loud as we drove through that Jesus would protect the people involved and get them the help they needed. We found out later that thankfully no one was killed but that a few people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The day after we got home from our trip, we found out that a friend of ours was killed in a car accident. Neither one of us wanted to believe it at first. It came as a complete shock and completely rocked both of us.

Today, that friend would have turned 25. We joined a lot of his loved ones in a park this afternoon to let off balloons in honor of his birthday.

Photo cred to my husband

I've been reminded this week about how short life is. And how precious it is. I let petty stuff get in the way of things too often. I get upset about little things that don't matter. I have moments where I feel entitled about things or expect that things should go my way. I often overlook the feelings of those around me because I'm too wrapped up in my own world.

So today, in this moment, I'm striving for a heart change. I want to be more mindful of those around me than of myself. I want to focus my energy more on the people around me that need it more than I do. I want to honor and cherish the people I have in my life, because I don't know how much time I will have with them.

Life is precious. Let's live each day like we really believe that.

We miss you, friend

Twenty Fifteen Part 3

March was not quite as busy as February, but it was still a little crazy.

I had a coffee date with my dear friend L.B. that ended up turning into a wine night later that evening. We had such good conversations over coffee, and wine and cheese. It was a great day.

The next day, Josh and I went to a fundraiser at a local winery for some of the people at our church that are going on a missions trip with Happy Feet this summer. It was a fun night of chatting with some of the people from our church.

The next day, we went out to dinner with some friends to a restaurant we had never been to before. It was pretty yummy! After that, we headed to Dutch Bros and I got to try it for the first time. It was delicious!

I had a craft night the next week with some friends. I didn't finish my project but it was a pretty ambitious one for me. A yarn wrapped wreath with handmade felt flowers. I was only able to finish the flowers but I'm hoping to have a picture of the finished wreath soon!

The next day, I had a sale to sell off my Scentsy stock. I decided back in January that I was ready to be done selling it, so I decided to have a sale to get rid of the product I had on hand. Thankfully, I've been able to sell more than half of it!
Later that afternoon, we attended a memorial service for a friend's daughter. It was a very sad time, but I was glad we were able to be there to support our friends.
After that, we went to see Cinderella with some friends! It was such a good movie. I highly recommend it. We then went out to dinner with our friends and had a fun night hanging out.

The next day, we attended a vision meeting at our church. Our new pastor and our church staff came up with a new vision for our church, so they wanted to start sharing some of the plans with the congregation. Josh and I are both excited for the new changes.
After that, we met up with some friends for sushi. And then we watched the Walking Dead together.

We spent St. Patrick's Day with some friends and family. We had the traditional corned beef and cabbage and lots of other yummy food and drinks!

My boy and I sporting our green

Later that week, I got to celebrate with my friend L.B. as she turned 30! A group of 18 women shared dinner with her at a yummy restaurant. It was such a fun night and I'm so glad she was able to have that celebration!

The birthday girl and I

We were missing a couple of ladies by the time this picture was taken

The next day, I went to see Insurgent with a couple of friends. While it was a good movie, there was a lot they changed from the book. I think if you haven't read the books, you'll definitely enjoy the movie. If you have, you might have some issues with it.

The next week, my friend S.W. and I got together and watched the PLL finale together! I may or may not have binge watched most of the episodes of the show the two weeks prior to the finale, to try and figure out what they were going to reveal to us.

Later that week, I spent some time with my friend L.B. We always have the best conversations and I'm so thankful to have her in my life.

The next night, I went out dancing with some friends. I hadn't been dancing since Vegas, so this night wore me out. We danced for almost three hours straight with no breaks. It was a lot of fun, but I was so exhausted by the time we left.

The next night, we had some friends over for dinner and games. I always enjoy spending time with people over a meal. And laughing a lot. Both are very good for my heart.

Other highlights from this month:
My BCBs and I finished the book Blink and Caution, which was crazy, but really good. We also read The 5th Wave, which was also really good. Think the Walking Dead, but with aliens. I can't wait to read the second book, and the third one comes out in May (EDIT: It comes out in May...of next year! So very sad...)!
My husband and I are trying to stick with healthier eating habits. I was much better about it a year ago, but it was his decision to try harder this time, so I'm joining him on this journey.
My myofascial appointments are going so well! My body is finally really starting to "release" and "unwind" and while it's the weirdest feeling to feel my muscles and limbs move on their own, it's also super exciting to know that my body is starting to go back to normal.

I've decided to start sharing a little more personal stuff on these monthly updates as well.

Things God has been teaching/reminding me this month:
How important prayer really is. Not only did our pastor talk about it this month, but I've been given a lot of opportunities to pray for people and for different situations. And while I know that just because I pray for something, it doesn't mean that situation is going to go the way I want it to...but I know that my prayers are heard and they are answered...just maybe not always in the way(s) I expect or like. After writing last month about how much of a struggle prayer is for me, God sure has given me a lot of situations to be praying through more.

The importance of knowing someone before judging them. I think it's really easy to assume things about someone when you hear them talk or you see them do something, but you don't really have a relationship with them to know if your assumptions are true or not. I know I can't judge someone's heart anyway, but if I don't know who they are, if I don't take the time to have a conversation with them to see where they are coming from, I might be missing out on getting to know someone really great. It's one of the reasons I hate social media. It's great for sharing our lives with people, but because we don't usually share all the hard and not so pretty things publicly, it's easy for people to assume things about us that may not be true.

How incredibly damaging gossip can be. I know we all know how wrong it is to gossip, but that doesn't stop us from gossiping anyway (or maybe that's just me?). I don't mean to or plan to gossip, but it still happens sometimes. And some situations happened this month where I heard some gossip being shared that really angered me so much. I think we forget how our casual conversations or even things we think are harmless to share with someone, can sometimes get back to the person we are talking about and really hurt their feelings. It's just better to talk to the source. Period. Talk to the person you have a problem with or have a question about something. Just like the whole judging thing. It's better to talk directly to someone than to talk about them behind their back, no matter how hard that conversation might be. It's Biblical to go directly to the person first:

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you gained your brother.

-Matthew 18:15 

(ESV - it goes on to say what to do if he/she doesn't listen to you, and at that point you can involve others, but you're not supposed to before that)

So with that, March was a good month full of love and family and friends.

Twenty Fifteen Part 1

It's crazy to think that we are already over a month and a half into 2015!

Here's a little recap of what January looked like:

We started 2015 with a little New Year's Eve get together at our house. We played a fun game and watched the countdown on the TV. It was a good night.

We have a picture just like this in almost the same spot in my house from two years ago. We were even wearing the same colors! 

The next week, I started seeing a myofascial release therapist for my neck. I've been going since and it has been so amazing. I feel so much more movement and I'm in a lot less pain every day. It's a slow process but it's one that I really believe is going to pay off in the long run.

We went on a fun sushi date night with Josh's brother and his family. We both got gift cards from Josh's parents for Christmas, so we decided to go together. It was delicious and a lot of fun!

The next day, I headed out of town with some good friends for wine tasting. One of my wine pals also has a January birthday, so we wanted to go to this specific winery to celebrate both of our birthdays. We were able to get a free tour of the facility and they gave us lunch along with our tasting. It was a really great experience. We also checked out a local building that housed a ton of organic eateries and little shops. I had an amazing salad and tried a raw oyster for the first time. It was a really great day.

 The whole group of wonderful ladies!

Birthday girl picture

My dear friend went into labor that weekend and I got to meet her little man! Oh my goodness, am I in love! He is so precious. I'm so excited to be an Auntie again!

Later that week, one of my dear friends that went wine tasting with me had me over for a wine night. She bought a bottle of wine from the winery for us to share (though we did not finish off that bottle in one evening), and some yummy meats and crackers. She also made me these delicious brownies! It was the best night. We always have such good conversations when we are together, and this night definitely did not disappoint.

The next day, we attended the memorial service for Josh's great grandma. While it was a very sad day, it was really nice to be able to see so many of Josh's family members there. His brother and his family were able to come up for the service, so we got to spend a lot of time with them that weekend. We went out to lunch with everyone after and Josh was able to show the video he made in honor of his great grandma. That evening, we went over to see our new baby love and had dinner with our friends. We played a game and laughed so much. It was such a fun night.

 My sister-in-law and I with our nephew

 Uncle Josh and our nephew

Uncle Josh and our new "nephew"

The next day, we had lunch with his family and celebrated Christmas with his brother's family. We went out bowling later that afternoon with our oldest niece, which was a lot of fun. That evening, I went out with two of my sisters-in-law and we had such a fun night. It really was so good to have quality family time with everyone.

My oldest niece in the middle 

This boy and his smiles 

With my sisters-in-law

Later that week, I went out dress shopping with my friend K.M. for our Vegas trip! We had a really fun day together. That evening, we went to a hockey game with Josh's family (my first!). His brother bought us all tickets for Christmas. It was really fun, but also very stressful! I was seriously nervous about people getting hurt the whole time. We have a friend that works at the arena and he got Josh and I on the kiss cam!

Part of our group

The next day, one of our friends got baptized at church and we went to a little luncheon at her in-law's house to celebrate.

Later that week, I turned 30! My dear Bible study friends surprised me with a yummy cake and my favorite cookies! We also played a game that evening and laughed so hard. It was the best first day of being 30.

That weekend, I went out with some of my dearest friends to a wine bar that I'd been wanting to try for awhile. They had a huge selection of wine and had the yummiest food. Paninis are their speciality, and they also have amazing meat and cheese trays. I didn't hear anyone complain at our table about their food. Everything was delicious! And it was such a good night of being out with my girlfriends. I seriously enjoyed it so much. It was incredibly relaxing and so perfect.

January was also full of other fun evenings spent with friends and family. The Bachelor and Pretty Little Liars came back on, as well as most of my other shows, so that was exciting. I also sang for worship a couple of times. It was a busy month, but a good one.