Halloween Party 2010

My wonderful friend, Marysia (who's the BEST hostess EVER) put on another fun costume party this year. As usual, the camera I have is HORRIBLE, so I didn't take ALOT of pics due to frustration! But here are a few. Chris and I went as cowboy/cowgirl. We borrowed some stuff from his sis and bro-in-law and used some other stuff we had. These costumes are great cuz they're FREE! :) My fave, right? :)

My very own cowboy :)


My potluck/crockpot Halloween creation-lol


how precious are these kiddoes? you got your ladybug, your giraffe AND an elephant


doesn't Joey make a perfect carrot?


elvis has left the bldg...he's in the kitchen now


how hilarious is this? i LOVE this idea for a couple's costume


us



me & one of my fave lil girls, Mia (i mean Elmo)


so, plz ignore the beer drinking in this pic, but i was trying to get Patrick's costume, which is the Denver Buggets Bird Man (hilarious) and also Keith's, which is a member of the Taliban...be VERY afraid, people! haha


Can you believe it? I actually took and have now POSTED more than one picture! Hope you're not in complete shock, but also hope you don't get too use to it, either. Now that I have remembered how terrible my camera is, I might not get it out again for a very long time! :)

Hope you all have a GREAT weekend and a Happy Halloween! We have a long morning of a wedding in the morning, but we're praising Him for His constant provision of biz and money! xoxoxoxo

Jasmine

So I am sure that at some point in the past 3 years I have posted something like this, BUT to be honest, I'm too lazy to go back and look at every last post. So, if this is repetitive I apologize...
I just had to show everyone what my dog does to her "babies." Our dog is WAY spoiled, esp since she is an only child and all, and from time to time we get her a "baby" which is basically a stuffed animal. And her one goal with that baby is to de-stuff it AND get its squeaker out as fast as possible. So, obviously we don't spend very much money on these babies, because Jasmine turns them into rags within a matter of minutes!
Anyways, since she is our only child, and everyone else who blogs posts pics of their children. Plus I thought maybe it'd bring a smile to your face today! Happy Thursday! God Bless!!!

Christmas

So, I am not even sure if anyone even reads this blog anymore since I was sooooo terrible about being consistent for the past several months. But for any of you that stuck around, aren't you so proud of me for blogging so regularly lately? LOL! Though I still am HORRIBLE about taking and posting pics! maybe that'll be the next new leaf I turn over! Doubtful, but who knows!!! :)

Today I am thinking about Christmas and thought I'd pose a question to you guys...Chris and I have had "meager" Christmases pretty much since we have been married because of his employment situation. Though I am not complaining and as you all know, the Lord has blessed us immensely by constantly meeting our daily needs!!! However, having such Christmases has really changed my perspective on the holiday. I long for it to be more about Christ's birth, life and eventual sacrifice and resurrection and MUCH LESS about spending money and sometimes going into debt simply to fill the area under the Christmas tree. Now, I grew up with a much different kind of Christmas. I am totally NOT knocking my mom, but Christmases for us for about QUANTITY and time off and very. very lil about the Lord! So, my question to you is this....do any of you have ideas that you have heard of or that you practice yourselves that allows Christmas NOT to be about spending money? I ask this because both our families, though they do not intend to cause Chris and I stress or harm, still participate in the whole money-spending, gift-giving extravaganza. And i am NOT saying I am against this, because I LOVE giving gifts myself, but from our circumstances over the past few years, we simply have not had and do not have the money to spend on buying every single family member a gift. So I am wondering if nay of you know of any alternatives that would be appealing to our families. And also, another "issue" is that I have a lil sister, and Chris and I both have 2 nephews, and in years past when we haven't been able to give gifts to the adults in the family, we have still "had" to give gifts to the "kids." So do you have any ideas about that, as well?

Just curious to see what sorts of ideas might come out of this. Am just thinking of gifts I want to give already and am stressing over all those gifts adding up! You know?

Thanks for listening! In Him...

Long Weekend

Hola! Hope everyone had a great weekend and is having a great week so far! I'm so excited that it's almost the end of the workday and tomorrow is already Wednesday! woohoo

So, one of the perks of my job is that I get FIVE WHOLE WEEKS of paid time off a year, and thus, even with taking a week off at Christmas, I still have some time I need to take, otherwise I lose it. And the past couple of weeks have been really busy and tiresome for Chris and I so we decided to take off 1.5 days at the end of last week. Granted it would've been awesome to get away, but since we're on a strict budget, we decided to have a lil stay-cation. Now, we did splurge a lil by doing things that we NEVER do like going to the movies and out to eat a couple of times. But overall, besides the fact that the Cowboys RUINED my weekend by not showing up to play on Sunday, it was a very nice time.

We started Thursday by taking Patti out for lunch for her bday. Then we came home and took a NAP, TOGETHER! Wow, was that nice! :) Then we decided at the last minute to go see a movie. So, at 8pm, which is usually nearing bedtime on a weekday, we headed off to see Wall Street 2. The movie was just okay, but Chris and I LOVE going to the movies, and LOVE eating the popcorn and having hot tamales!!! So even though the movie wasn't great, it was a fun time!

Then, without an alarm to wake us, we got up leisurely on Friday morning, had a yummy breakfast at IHOP and headed off on an excursion in the car. I dunno if any of you know this, but my husband is quite the adventurer/explorer, and he was dying to take some unknown roads through the mountains and see where they ended up! OH MY! AND guess what? In my old age, I have somehow developed a case of car sickness, so his exploring through scary mountain roads and my queasiness always make for interesting times. :) BUT I barely had any sickness for the 2 plus hours we drove around, and we had a good time just being together and seeing some different places in Colorado. have I mentioned how much I LOVE living here? It is breathtakingly beautiful!!!

So, then we got some yummy Tully's coffee (Krista if you are reading this I know you are dying of jealousy...there's a Tully's now in a King Soopers that is 15 minutes from us now)...well, I got chai, of course, ran a few errands and then played cards and had dinner with Chris' parents.

So, like I said, it was nothing spectacular or fancy, but boy was it nice to have some time off just to be together, with no time constraints and a lil splurging! :) Just thought I'd share, since for the most part, we're boring and there's usually not much to tell ya! lol

Love you! xoxo ~hol

Happy Birthday, Patti!

So she might not love that I am making a big deal of this, BUT today my mother-in-law turns 52. And as I was praying over her this morning and praising God for another year, I realized the deep significance of her birthday this year. Though she is still recovering from her surgery, and her hair has yet to grow back more than an inch or so, and though she still has some procedures left until her breasts are "done," it is only by His grace and mercy that Patti is even here on earth to celebrate this 52nd birthday!

So, I just wanted to thank Him publicly for His healing hands that have helped Patti through this breast cancer journey these last several months! What a miracle that she is even here to celebrate 52! Thank you, Lord for your miracles, both big and small!!!

Happy Birthday, Patti!!! xoxoxo

Brunette

So, as promised, in this post will FINALLY be ONE WHOLE PICTURE! I am so sorry, guys, I simply just do not even take my camera places anymore, even WHEN we do have something fun going on! :)

So, I have gone brunette. For the sake of saving money ONLY! I don't hate it, though I will say it is now more red than brown, which is just interesting and somewhat annoying, but hopefully it won't be for toooooo long! I know it's just hair, but I LOVE being a blonde. It just makes me feel summery, I guess. But, being blonde when you have pretty dark hair naturally is pretty costly to upkeep. So, here is your promised picture: