Miculka Madness

Recipes

2011-03-23T08:56:00.002-05:00

Last night on my facebook page, i asked what everyone was having for dinner and shared what i was making!! I always love hearing the meals that others prepare and getting new ideas!! I made honey garlic chicken, cilantro lime rice & steamed asparagus and had a couple of people ask for the recipes, so i figured i would post them here! It was a super simple meal and very very tasty!!

*Honey Garlic Chicken*

3 lg chicken breasts (i used skinless/boneless but the recipe says any chicken pieces will work!)
1/2 C brown sugar
2 tsp dry mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 C honey

lay the chicken in a 9x13 baking dish.

spread each ingredient over the chicken in order and do NOT mix.

bake uncovered for 1 hour in 350 degree oven & enjoy!

**i only cooked the chicken for 45 minutes and it was even a little dry at that point ~ the cooking time will need to be adjusted to what kind of chicken pieces you use!**

**i think i am going to try this in the crockpot next time i make it, so i'll be sure to let you know how that turns out!!**

*Cilantro Lime Rice*

1 C uncooked long grain white rice
1 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can chicken broth
1 C water

In saucepan, combine all of these ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat.

1 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro

In a small bowl, combine these 3 ingredients. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice. Enjoy!!

**we all really enjoyed this rice ~ the flavor was perfect! not too much and just enough!!**

So what did y'all have for dinner last night?! Or what are you making tonight?! We are going to have crockpot creamy italian chicken over pasta w/ broccoli tonight!! I have a little love affair with the crockpot y'all! Hope you all have a blessed day!!

catch up & belly shots!

2011-03-21T11:00:00.005-05:00

okay. so trying to actually catch up after so many months of not blogging is kinda difficult. so i guess i will just share whatever comes to mind! ready, set, go...

In some ways this pregnancy is flying by and in alot of ways it seems to be going so slowly! I am almost 23 weeks now and definitely feeling pregnant!

16 weeks!

As i shared in my last post the first 4 1/2 months were brutal. I was very sick and struggled w/ weight loss. But, i am very happy to report that i am feeling SO much better and while i do deal with the typical pregnancy stuff like horrible heartburn (this kiddo better have a head FULL of gorgeous hair!), lots of hip and groin pain (i'm carrying SO low this time!), and exhaustion, I am overwhelmed with how blessed i am to be carrying this little miracle!!

22 weeks!

And now for a random list of stuff thats been going on the last few months & thoughts that come to mind....

* ITS A BOY!!! His name is Dylan Joseph and we are thrilled to be adding lil man #3 to our brood!!!

*did y'all watch the Bachelor?! Cause you know i did and i LOVE Brad & Emily together!! And i truly believe they will make it and are one of the more "real" couples to come out of the show!

* Colby had pneumonia last month (and has asthma which is a yucky combo!) and we go in this week for follow up chest films ~ praying they come back clear as he has just in the last few days started w/a productive cough again. its just no fun to have sickly babies! (yeah...i said baby even tho he is almost 10!)

*i seriously have the best husband. like EVER! he just makes life so much more fun and i can't imagine having to live a day w/o his support and corny jokes! ;) i am so blessed!

* last month i had 6 friends have babies!!! so fun!! and what's even better?! they were ALL boys ~ Dylan totally has a built in peer group! ha! (and several more friends will have boys in the next couple of months!) (and?! one friend is having a girl in a couple of months ~ can we say arranged marriage?!! i'm totally calling dibs!)

* this is the most active baby i have ever carried!! we had to go back a second time for the sonogram tech to be able to get all the pics they needed and both times they commented on how crazy active he is! (you don't have to tell me twice ~ i feel it and i love it!) hubby & both of the boys have already been able to feel him move!! =)

*our kids spring break isn't until the last week of april! isn't that weird?! but we are looking forward to it because we will be traveling for the last time as a family of 4!! we will be spending the week in atlanta doing all kinds of fun stuff!! & if you have recommendations for good restaurants in the downtown area i'd love to hear 'em!!

* the weather here has been AHmazing. we have so been enjoying windows open, riding bikes, (the boys of course~not me!) fresh air and breezes, sunshine and highs in the 70's!! here is where i tell you that i am all too aware of the impending heat and humidity and that i'm SO not looking forward to putting up w/ all that while being huge and pregnant. but it will be so worth it! ;)

and i think thats it for now!! life is good, we are blessed and getting more and more excited about baby Dylan's arrival all the time!! happy 1st week of spring!!

Our Big News!

2010-12-22T21:01:00.003-06:00

Our family is growing!!!!!

We are very excited to announce here that we are expecting baby #3!!!
This is something we have prayed for and wanted for quite some time and we could not be more thrilled! God is so good and His timing is always perfect! Our due date is July 20th!

Here is a first glimpse at our newest addition......

Baby Miculka ~ 9 1/2 weeks =)

This first trimester has been very difficult but i must say that i am so blessed with an amazing husband who has stepped up and been such a huge help! I don't know how i could do it without him!! Laundry, cooking, cleaning....you name it and he's doing it right now! {sorry ladies ~ he's all mine!!} So....that's what has been going on in our world for the last couple of months! I'm going to try my hardest to be better about blogging because i want to remember everything about this pregnancy and i sure miss all of my blog friends! (hopefully ya'll still remember me!)

Praying you all have a very merry, wonderful Christmas full of love and laughter and all that truly matters!

sister-friend & pretty piggies ~ the 7th

2010-09-07T19:24:00.003-05:00

you know how there are girlfriends and then there are friends that are more like sisters that God blesses you with along your journey thru life?? the kind of girlfriend that always says the right thing. knows what your thinking without you saying a word. the kind that you can go weeks without talking to and then pick right back up like you just chatted hours earlier. the kind that you can truly share your heart with without any fear of judgement ~ the good, the bad, & the ugly. the friend that you know is praying for you without even having to ask. i could go on and on but i'm sure you get the idea!

i was blessed to spend this morning with one of those friends. we grabbed coffee at starbucks and then went and got pedicures. it was blissful! we are both in busy stages of life and don't get to see each other as often as we'd like, so it was a blessing to be able to catch up! and the pedicure was wonderful as always! i left her this morning with a refreshed perspective on struggles i'm facing, pretty piggies, and a smile in my heart ~ full of JOY!! i don't take for granted how blessed i am to have several of these sister-friends and all the joy they bring to my life!!

the 6th

2010-09-06T19:41:00.004-05:00

the weather here in the florida panhandle has been slightly cooler the last week or so and it has been glorious. i mean...i never really thought that i would say temps in the low to mid 90's w/ only slight humidity would be glorious...but it has been! tonight, after dinner, we decided to enjoy that slightly better weather and went on a walk as a family! i've missed our walks this summer and it brings me so much joy that we were able to do that again! hopefully we will be able to enjoy our walks more and more over the next few weeks and months! here are a couple of pics i managed to get this evening!

{brayden was tired towards the end and asked for a piggy back ride!}

{LOVE them!}

oops...i'm behind!

2010-09-06T11:23:00.002-05:00

so...i'm a few days behind on my joyful posts! this will be a quick bullet style catch up! but the thing is that even though i didn't post them, i chose my favorite thing that brought me joy each day. i love how having this joyful september blogging idea in the back of my mind each day really helps me to just constantly find joy. in everything! i think i want a joyful october, and november, and december...you get the idea!

joyful ~ the 4th

college football brought me joy on saturday! i love football ~ its a fun, energetic game to watch and it brings back so many great memories from my middle school & high school days!! you see...i grew up in a small texas town and well....my fall's revolved around football and i wouldn't change a thing about it! and what's even better?? seeing my 3 favorite guys lined up on the couch watching football together and knowing that my hubby's heart wanted to burst as he was living a dream! watching football w/ his sons (as in they are actually understanding the game and enjoying it!) ~ something he's looked forward to for so long!! all of that wraps up into one big package of joy!

joyful ~ the 5th

we hosted a big young married's get together at our home last night and it was a blast!! opening this home that God has blessed us with and hosting family, friends (new & old), church family....that brings me so much joy! a great time was had by all...there was tons of food, babies, a men vs. kids football game (i know...those big boys ought to be ashamed of themselves!!) ;), fellowship....just plain fun and packed with joy!

and today's joyful post will have to wait! its way too early to choose my favorite source of joy for the day!! =) and i'm hoping to blog about my trip to NYC w/ girlfriends back in march too!! i'm loving being back!! i pray you are all having a wonderful labor day holiday!

Joyful ~ the 3rd

2010-09-03T22:57:00.002-05:00

My hot lover boy....oh i mean...my hubby was off work today and it was so much fun to spend the day together! We didn't do anything special ~ dropped the boys at school, went to the case lot sale at the commissary {which for my non-military readers means stood in line to score deals on various items in bulk!}, paid the rent {yes it was late..don't judge! ;)}, did yard work....you know...we did everyday life. but we did it together and doing any task with him by my side is just better. funner. somehow easier. its one of the best parts about marriage in my opinion ~ to have someone to just do life with who actually makes everyday more enJOYable! today my hubby and our nothing special but special to me day was a huge source of JOY!!

and ps...i'd love to hear from y'all! tell me one thing that brings you joy. it can be anything!

Joyful ~ the 2nd!

2010-09-02T20:45:00.004-05:00

There are several things about this picture that bring me joy!

*my girlfriends bring me so much joy! i know i share alot here about how much the friendships god has blessed me with mean to me. these girls {along w/ a few who couldn't be there!} are a sure source of joy in my life!

*2 of these girls are pregnant w/ babies we have all been praying for....JOY! so much JOY in that!!

*right before taking this picture, we were all drinking coffee and chatting and those are two things that each bring me joy! combine the the two and its like a joyful jackpot! ;)

Joyful Sept. ~ Day 1

2010-09-01T20:42:00.002-05:00

today i was overcome w/ joy during brayden's dinner blessing. the part that plastered a smile on my face went a little something like this....

"and ummm, pwease make it a wonderful food. amen."

geez i love that kid! and his big brother! i had to seriously try not to giggle uncontrollably and i sure hope he thought it was a wonderful food! =)

Joyful September

2010-09-01T09:46:00.002-05:00

i'm back! the last 6 months have been full of trial and struggle for our family and my energy & focus needed to be elsewhere for a while! but you know what?! there has been so much growth, joy and love in the midst of all we have been facing and for that i am grateful! and i'm excited to be back to blogging!!

my friend ginger, who blogs over at the small moments, shared that she is going to spend the month of september being more intentional about focusing on the joyful things in her life. and each day she will share in some form or another one thing that brought her joy that day. and she invited anyone who so desired, to join in! i have learned more in the last 6 months than i could ever begin to share here but one of those things is that no matter what life throws your way, there is always joy to be found. there is always good mixed in with the bad and if i choose to focus on the joy, the good, than it makes all the difference in the world in my everyday! so i am joining in on joyful september with ginger! i hope you enjoy my joys this month!! =)

ps...i will also be back tracking a little to share some of the life that has happened while i've been away from blogging!

pps...y'all know i love my reality tv....is anyone watching big brother?!?! thoughts??

Girlfriends & Goodbyes

2010-02-22T07:29:00.004-06:00

thursdays are my only weekday that i don't work out. {mostly, anyway} because on thursday mornings? i have a standing date w/my girlfriends. we all meet at a local coffee shop and spend a couple of hours chatting, sharing our hearts, encouraging, laughing, and just being real. real women, wives, mommies, sisters in christ! girlfriends are such a cherished blessing!

but goodbyes?? they aren't so fun. unfortunately, as a military wife they are all too common. one of the absolute hardest parts of this lifestyle. i am thankful that God continues to bless me with the ability to open up and let new friends in, knowing from the start that our time together will be short. it isn't always easy and at times everything in me wants to close and protect my heart, but then i would miss the beauty these friendships bring to my life!

Jen~ you have been such a blessing and i know that our friendship does not end here, even though our physical time together does. I will miss your smile, your laugh, your energy and the sparkle in your eye! The way you share your heart and are such an encouragement to me ~ always there to listen, to pray, to give the BEST hugs! You live big, you love big and i love you! Praying God's best for you as you guys continue on your adventure!! {let brandon know i'll miss not talking to him at the gym! ;)} you are already so missed....

helping hands

2010-02-17T18:26:00.004-06:00

i have quite the little 4 yr old helper on my hands.

brayden loves to help me in the kitchen!

that stinkin' sweet little voice....

"momma, can i stir stir?"

"i wanna do it myself momma!"

"can i spread momma?" {he love pb&j!}

and my reply? {most of the time...}

"yes monkey! come help momma!"

and while it takes a little longer and may not be as pretty or perfect as i may like,

i know that all too soon i will miss those sweet little requests to help.

that sweet little voice that melts my heart every time!

Catch Up {bullet style}

2010-02-15T20:35:00.005-06:00

Not even really sure where the last two weeks went other than to say they FLEW by!! We've been staying pretty busy with day to day "stuff" and by the time the evening rolls around and i have an opportunity to blog, i just haven't felt very inspired. please tell me i'm not the only one who gets this way?!?

here's a quick update~bullet style!

colby had a skating birthday party for one his classmates and we all got to go! brayden even got to skate for the first time!

{colby & friends @ the birthday party!}

{hubby trying to help brayden skate for the 1st time!}

our small group had a not so small super bowl party! we had a great time!

hubby was nominated for sailor of the quarter!! i am so incredibly proud of him!! he gives his best ALL the time and never expects any sort of recognition for it. BUT....as his wife it is such a blessing to see his hard work recognized! he went before the board last week, but we haven't heard yet if he was selected!

the small group that i lead for military wives at our church has started back up after a long holiday hiatus! i'm so blessed by each of the ladies in the group and i missed seeing them each week!

last friday, pensacola shut down because of a chance of snow. i guess i kind of get why, but seriously it was comical! the military bases and schools shut down which meant i had all of my guys home with me! and just take a guess at how much snow we had?!? ZERO! ha! but we had a great time as a family on our non snowing snow day! =)

hubby and i were blessed to be able to attend a marriage conference at our church on friday night and saturday morning! i am firm believer that no matter how great or not great your marriage is, these conferences are such a blessing if you go into it with a heart to hear what God has for you! we really enjoyed it and even got to go to dinner together before the session on friday night!

our good friends seth and ryan hung out with the boys so we could go and they ALL had a great time! apparently seth went to walmart and bought something like 50 nerf darts and they had a BIG nerf fight! i'm still finding darts! ;)

and last but certainly not least, i have added 32.58 miles to my total since i last posted!! quickly approaching the 100 mile mark!!

so. life is crazy and busy but so so blessed!! i am looking forward to mops and a scrapbooking night with friends this week and relaxing w/ my 3 favorite guys this weekend!! oh yeah, and finding more time/inspiration to blog! ;)

50.

2010-02-01T15:49:00.003-06:00

THAT'S HOW MANY MILES I DID IN JANUARY!!!!

seriously y'all?!? that is a huge accomplishment for me. HUGE! and it feels so stinkin' good!! it wasn't always easy, but this 500 miles in 2010 challenge has been a huge motivator for me! i can't wait to push myself this month, and next month, and the month after that and see how many miles i can rack up! and see my waistline shrink as i go!! ;)

and i was thinking the other day about when i hit my all time low. when i stepped on the scale and i had hit that number that i just never dreamed i would. it was a year ago....january 2009. today i am so excited to share that i am 40lbs lighter than i was then!!!! 40lbs!! and just for the record, since i actually got serious about weight loss and decided to change my life, i have lost 23lbs. slow and steady and i LOVE it!!

and because he's hot and we're hot together and posting without pictures just isn't as fun, i thought i would share a picture of me and my hubby that colby took yesterday! enjoy! =)

Spring{ish}

2010-01-26T20:23:00.005-06:00

the weather today? gorgeous! windows open, sunny, breezy, gorgeous! {a little chilly, but since its january i looked past it} ;) as i am quite sure we all do, i had alot on my "to do" list for the day, and i was busy busy checking things off.

but then i heard two sweet little voices ~ "momma, can we explore out there?!?" (pointing to the front yard) i could have very easily explained that i had alot to get done and sweetly asked if they would mind exploring in the back yard instead. but i didn't. i stopped what i was doing, put my "to do" list on hold and went outside with them. no cell phone, no laptop, no notepad w/ a to do list staring me in the face. just me and these two incredible little peoples i'm so blessed to enjoy each day! we had a blast! they explored, ran, giggled and i soaked up every second of being in the moment with them. it was bliss.

{some sort of chase and crash game?? they loved it!}

{colby workin' his photo takin' magic}

{exploring. atleast colby is! brayden is patiently waiting till his bestest brother is ready to move on!}

{brayden showing off his mad pre school handwriting skillz}

i could just drink in this weather! my favorite! love the sunshine, fresh air, breeze.....everything about it! and i'm holding on to hope that i have MONTHS of it before i face the hell that is a florida summer! ;)

Becoming

2010-01-24T15:28:00.005-06:00

I had the privilege of attending the Becoming Women's Conference, hosted by our womens ministry, from thursday thru saturday. and i had planned in my head to post all about what i took away from the conference and how great it was and all that. but there just aren't words. it was beyond great. if i could sum my weekend up in one word it would be POWERFUL. simply put, it was life changing. for me. and for several of my girlfriends. and no doubt for many of the women who were there. we had over 350 women in attendance and we praised and we worshipped like i never have before! our savior's presence was undeniable. i am so grateful to serve an awesome, powerful, intentional God. one who loves ME! just as i am. to be a daughter of THE King. two messages stirred my heart. one on hope and one on finding my identity in christ. i have so much to process still. SO MUCH. So much of His word to dig into! like i said, there just aren't words! maybe as i work thru it all and process it i will share more. but for now, i did manage to snap a couple of pictures!

small group girlfriends!

Ashlee, Me, Mari, Jen, & Kristi

yes, i know i'm looking rough in this one! it was an emotional last session and i was tired! this is Jeannie aka my "spiritual mama"!

i walked away from this conference refreshed, challenged, changed. and that, i'm confident, was His plan! i am so blessed to be in the company of such real, transparent sisters in christ! so blessed!

Rewind!

2010-01-21T13:04:00.006-06:00

one of my favorite things to do is to look back at old pictures! to remember the boys at various ages, to see john and i at different stages, to relive the memories captured! i can get lost for hours in old photo albums or on my photobucket account! so i've decided that from time to time i am going to allow myself some time to take a trip down memory lane, and then share some favorites that i come across here! these are some that made me smile today!

the boys @ Colby's preschool graduation

Brayden @ his 1st birthday party!

this was the day john got home from his 1st deployment!

Colby's 1st day of kindergarden!

oh.my.goodness. looking back at these just plasters a perma grin on my face! i love it! and seeing brayden's wrist rolls makes me wonder why i haven't had another baby yet! ;) i think my next rewind post will be scanned pictures from high school!! so fun!

my thoughts on....

2010-01-19T10:17:00.005-06:00

The Bachelor!

{april, you may just be the only person who even reads these and i'm okay with that! i love that you and i see eye to eye! =) } and if anyone else watches, speak up!! i'd love to "chat" bachelor with ya!

i suppose i will just start with the first one on one date w/ vienna. this girl has rubbed me the wrong way from the start. she seems very abrasive and rude and self centered, which is pretty much opposite of what jake has said he's looking for. for the first few minutes of their date she almost started to win me over but it just didn't happen. i don't think she is ready for what jake is looking for and i am just not a fan at all. and then the cherry on top was her interrupting elisabeth's one on one time when she already had a rose. ugh!

and then the group date. oh my! i first have to give kudos to all of the girls for getting up there and doing that! i just don't know that i would have been able to do it!! but then the after party begins. ha! these after "parties" always end up being a nightmare on this show!!

~michelle was looney......like CRAZY. And i have a new found respect for jake because i truly never would have imagined him putting his foot down and calling her bluff the way he did! glad she is gone and glad to see that side of jake!!

~so happy that tenley told him about her past and opened up to him last night. and i love the way he just embraced it and respected her that much more for it. she is a sweet heart, i would love to see a one on one date for them next week!

~corrie is cute but i still don't really know what i think of her and jake together. i was glad to see ali get to spend some time with him and see that the connection still seemed to be there, although i think the girls really needed to lay off the vienna talk. corrie's comedy act put enough of a hint in his ear about who vienna is at the house away from jake, and the girls needed to quit bringing it up!

and then there was the one on one date with ella! although i don't think i would want my son to meet someone that early on, it was a really sweet date. jake really seemed to enjoy ella's little boy and there seemed to be a sweet chemistry between them! ella grew on me last night and i just don't think that jake would have given her a rose if he wasn't really feeling something!

i'm looking forward to seeing the road trip on next week's episode and seeing what the drama at the rose ceremony is all about! no doubt it will be "the most dramatic rose ceremony ever"! haha! what did y'all think of last night's episode??

Not Me!

2010-01-18T18:32:00.004-06:00

I have seen Not Me! Monday posts on other blogs for a while now. and i laugh every time. usually because i can relate in some shape or form to the things shared in these posts. and given the craziness in my life right now, i figured a Not Me! Monday post was just what i needed to remember how trivial all the hiccups in my life truly are. and to remind myself how humorous my self proclaimed short comings are! So here we go....

i most certainly do not still have all of my christmas decorations up. and i didn't plan to take them down today and then not do it. nope, not me!

and i absolutely did not spend an entire day over the weekend laying around reading Breaking Dawn and ignoring most of my wifely and motherly duties. of course i didn't!

and i sure didn't feed my family nothing but fat and grease filled fast food for every meal one day last week because i had no groceries. nope. you guessed it...not me!

and last but not least, we DID NOT skip church on sunday because that would mean missing kick off of the cowboys game! not me! {just to be completely disappointed in the outcome of the game.}

how about you?!? any "not me's" to share?? it really is quite liberating to just put it out there and chuckle! for more Not Me! Monday fun head over to MckMama's blog and check out all the other posts that are linked!! Happy Monday!

500 Miles in 2010

2010-01-15T12:51:00.004-06:00

i mentioned in a previous post that on sept. 28th, 2009 i began a journey. one filled with alot of ups and downs. one that has forced me to face habits and bad decisions and make some BIG changes. it is my weight loss journey. but more than that it is my journey to a healthy lifestyle!

i've spent years making every excuse in the book. i've tried diets and started working out so that i could lose __ pounds before this event or that trip. i've played the pity card....why can so many others eat what they want and not gain?!? why me?? and then? i woke up and realized it was all a huge waste of time. only one person could change my lifestyle. and that was me! and it didn't matter what anyone else does or doesn't do. i needed to make BIG changes and do it for me! so i did!

to kick off this new year, laura and erin challenged each other to a race. first one to run 500 miles in 2010 won serious bragging rights! then they decided to open it to others and now? there are over 50 people competing! and i am one of them!!! it has been so incredibly motivating! when i want to stop running or hop off the elliptical, i push a little more because of this challenge! i don't dream that i will win. in the world of runners, i am a newborn! for real! but i do know that i will run MORE than 500 miles in 2010 and my goal is to beat my own weekly total the next week! last week i got 9.5 miles in. this week? 13.6 miles so far!!! and i am excited to watch that number go up each week! and to make it even sweeter, laura and erin started a blog where there will be workout tips, recipes, etc. posted thru the week and then weekly results will posted there as well!! its a huge challenge but i'm excited for it!!

500 miles in 2010?? me?? DAMN RIGHT!! and then some! BRING IT!! =)

Holy Drama Batman!!!

2010-01-12T10:19:00.005-06:00

Wow. the bachelor is back in full force!!! i wasn't totally sure what i would think of jake being the bachelor. he seemed sweet at some times last season but at others it seemed very forced and fake, which i didn't like at all. for the most part i am liking him so far. there were a couple of things he said and did in the first episode that were cheesy but i tend to think that the producers have some pull in what is said and how certain things play out!

with all of that said...lets dig in, shall we?!? the premiere was quite possibly one of the cheesiest that the bachelor/ette has EVER come up with! i had quite a few good laughs at some of the things they showed and the way the girls came out of the limo's! i don't think for one second that any girl thought of bringing a peacock feather on her own. maybe i'm wrong, but i seriously doubt it! and that is just one example, but whatever~moving on!

there were a couple of girls that i liked the first night. there were alot of them that i did not think were very good fits AT ALL and still feel as though there are a few more easy ones to weed out before it gets really good!

Ali was a standout for me week one and continues to be after last night! she is cute, seems sweet and down to earth, and they seemed to have great chemistry. unfortunately, given the history of the show i doubt she will be one of the final girls because she is getting so much air time early on! i could always be wrong!

Elisabeth was another standout for me week one. she is beautiful, confident and seemed very likeable. i do still kinda like her after last night but i'm on the fence now! i respect values and holding to them. however. she came on that show knowing that he was going to be dating other girls at the same time. to hold out on kissing him this early on? great. to tell him not to kiss you until you are the last girl standing and then bat your eyes at him and ask him over and over if he wants to kiss you? get real. that was all about playing games and had nothing to do with her "values". i'm not going to sit here and judge what values she believes in and holds ~ not my place. but! that whole not kissing thing sure seemed to be about playing games and i thought it was ridiculous!

Tenley was the other girl that stood out to me the first night! She is so cute and sweet and innocent. but i'm not so sure that she is ready to be in another relationship yet and certainly not sure about dating in this type of scenario. i hope i'm wrong cause i don't want to see her get her heart broken but it seems like maybe she hasn't completely moved on from the hurt of her past. i hope they get to spend some time together next week and that she opens up and tells him about her past and see how things go from there for them!

and then there's the whole rozlyn "scandal". i DO believe that there was a relationship between her and the staff member. i think that her reaction last night made that clear. i don't, however, think that it was all that they are trying to make it out to be. they use "inappropriate relationship" knowing the conclusion that everyone will jump to. i think it is completely unfair to judge the girl based solely on what was shown and said last night. they made the right decision to end her time on the show, but i don't think it warrants all the ugly judgements being made about her.

all in all i think this is going to prove to be a great season and give us lots to chat about!! both chris harrison and jake blog each week so you can check those out here and here if you would like! can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts!! i've missed bachelor chats!! =)

ps...check this out!!! i just found this link today and i think its a fun idea! what are your thoughts??

Christmas Recap {finally!}

2010-01-03T13:06:00.027-06:00

Our Christmas was joy filled and exciting and relaxing and such a blessing! We kept it simple and just enjoyed being together and reflecting on Christ's love for us! We had John's parents here with us, and the boys were over the moon to have their Culka and Papa Culka here spoiling them! ;)

We started the festivities off by baking cookies & decorating them...

{colby's creations}

{ brayden's masterpieces}

Then the boys each got to open their 1 special Christmas Eve gift...

{blankets made by yours truly} {w/some help! ;)}

after that we all snuggled up to watch a christmas movie...

{grandma culka and her boys}

and of course before tucking the munchkins in we had to leave milk, cookies, & carrots for Santa and his reindeer! =)

Oh my...looks like Santa came!! And even lost a little something in the fireplace..oops! ;)

Christmas morning came EARLY. As in Brayden (our typical early to rise child but we held on to hope that maybe he would sleep in a little..) was up at 5:30! The boys loved all of their gifts and we had so much fun watching them open all of them!

{opening their gifts from each other}

{our silly boy, colby}

{brayden. yes, he uses that sweet lil face to get his way!}

The rest of our time with Culka and Papa Culka was spent relaxing and just enjoying our time together!

Papa Culka and Brayden spent alot of time putting puzzles together, which is one of Bray's favorite things to do!

and Culka and Colby played alot of games, which Colby loves!!

New Year's Eve wasn't the big fun we had originally planned because i was sick, but we did enjoy our evening! Being on the couch not feeling well gave me lots of time to reflect and to thank God for each and every struggle, trial, loss, tear, smile, memory made, lesson learned in 2009. It was a year of alot of ups and downs but He was right there every step of the way. Loving me, extending grace, giving peace and rest that only He could and teaching me thru it all. 2010 will be a fabulous year. It holds so much hope for joy, growth, love, and memories waiting to be made! I'm excited....can't wait to see what each day holds! I pray peace, love and growth for each of you this year ~ i look forward to sharing the perfectly imperfect madness that is the Miculka's with all of you thru this year!!

perspective

2009-12-22T22:06:00.003-06:00

I just came across this video and i am speechless. Some much needed perspective this holiday season...no accidents, only divine appointments and this is no doubt just that. Hope you are as blessed by this song and by Danny as i am tonight. Pure worship and it is beautiful.

I pray this week for a peace and joy filled Christmas for each of you! May Christ grab hold of your heart and may we all rejoice in the blessing of a Savior born so humbly all those years ago!

Merry Christmas!!

Broken Heart

2009-11-29T16:29:00.006-06:00

Life is so very very fragile. This morning i got a harsh reminder of just how fast it can slip away. I woke this morning to a phone call from my mom that my papa was dying. He had already coded once and the DNR order was given. Less than half an hour later, he passed away peacefully.

My heart is broken. in a million pieces. There was no time for goodbyes. He was fighting cancer for the second time, but he was doing well. Until last night when he suddenly started having trouble breathing and less than 14 hrs later he was gone. My tough as nails, hardcore retired military, stubborn, stern, funny, Cowboys football and cashew lovin' papa is gone. It still doesn't feel completely real. Accept it does...and it is...very real.

So many memories have flooded my mind all day long and i smile...even thru the tears, i smile. What a blessing to have been so close to him. To share so many memories. Despite our military lifestyle and the distance that has separated us, we were blessed to share christmas with him last year. And blessed to spend time with him again in June for the boys' birthdays. He was an amazing man. So very loved and will be so very missed.

We will be leaving in the morning to head back home and be with family. Please pray for my Grandma Lil and for all of the family and friends that will be traveling thru the week to be at the funeral. I pray you all had a wonderful thanksgiving holiday full of family, friends and lots of love! Hug the ones you love today and cherish every moment you are blessed with!

Gifts and so much more....

2009-11-23T13:14:00.002-06:00

Need some great gift ideas this holiday season?? Would you love to give gifts this year that are not only blessing the person receiving the gift, but would help bring an orphan home to their forever family?!?

You see - my cousin Lovelyn and her gorgeous family just recently brought home their adorable, precious son, Clay, from Uganda. And her heart for the orphan crisis around the world is nothing short of beautiful. And while we may not all be called to adopt, i believe we are called to be aware. To do what we can to help give these precious children of God a forever home. And we can all do that this holiday season as we purchase gifts for our family and friends!

Loveyln has posted a great gift guide on her blog. A listing of various items that adoptive families are selling to help raise funds to bring their babies home! So go here! Check out the wonderful opportunities there are to do your part to help these families bring their little ones home! And while you're at it....take a few minutes to read about Love and her family's journey cause it is amazing. And beautiful. And you will be so blessed by it.

Happy shopping. And reading!

Romans 12:21

2009-11-22T20:38:00.004-06:00

This morning as we were leaving for church, i noticed that Colby was having a particularly difficult time and was being quite snappy and short tempered. We spoke briefly with him as we were pulling into the parking lot about how he could possibly try praying, and asking for help to control those urges and for God to change his heart.

After church Colby excitedly told us about the sermon in children's church and how it fit right in with his struggle that morning. He told us that the sermon was based on Romans 12:21 which says, "when evil attacks, attack it with good". (Colby's translation) And we were able to point out this wonderful example of what an awesome God we serve. That God knew his struggle and spoke to him thru the message. What an amazing blessing!! It just makes my heart sing to see the heart Colby has for our Lord and Savior and His word. To watch Colby's understanding of true relationship with the lord grow.

Later this afternoon Colby came to me and asked me if in the future, when i see that he is struggling, would i just simply say to him "Romans 12:21". My eyes filled with tears as i assured him that i most definitely would. And as i have thought about it more today i have decided that i will ask the same of Colby. That on the days when my patience is short and i am struggling, would he simply remind me "Romans 12:21". I am so incredibly grateful for Colby. For his tender heart. His love for our God and his true desire to grow and learn and come to know Him. For the ways he challenges me and inspires me. I am so.incredibly.blessed. SO.BLESSED.

Romans 12:21

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Air Show @ Night!

2009-11-19T19:12:00.005-06:00

Last weekend, the base here hosted the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show, which we found out is a HUGE deal! They estimated that there were over 147,000 people there on saturday! (think parking nightmare!) We are blessed to see the blue angels flying all the time so we opted to go to the night show even though the blue's wouldn't be performing at it. It was pretty impressive and ended with one of the longest fireworks displays i've ever seen! We met up some friends of ours there and had a great time! We weren't able to get alot of good pictures between the tricky lighting and the speed the planes were flying at, but we did manage to snap a few!

they had "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood playing as this skydiver descended w/ the flag...so neat!

this flying team put on a really great show but we had a hard time getting any really good shots of them!

all the kiddos...Levi, Alexis, Colby, JT, & Brayden

a semi truck powered by jet engines.....pretty impressive

the wall of fire...you could seriously feel the heat in your face when this went off!

smiley fireworks!

remember the parking nightmare i mentioned earlier?!? well...we were able to find border line rock star parking that was only about 3/4 of a mile from the flight line. our friends didn't fare so well! So we all walked to our little honda crv after the show, piled in and drove the 2.3 miles (yes we measured!) to their car. So..the big guys were in the front seat, the 3 girls in the back seat (i was in a booster seat! ha!), and the 4 lil guys in the far back. The lil guys thought this was the greatest thing ever...they laughed and giggled the whole way!

our little stow away's! =)

We finished the evening off with dinner at one of our favorite restaurants! Great friends, great fun, and great food....what more can you ask for on a saturday night?!?

I've got nothin' so i'll title it October!

2009-11-16T16:24:00.008-06:00

I couldn't come up with anything creative to title this post! ha! It has been a long day and i guess my brain decided to check out! =) October brought the start of Hope for the Homefront, Brayden's first field trip, and of course Halloween!

Hope for the Homefront is a fabulous bible study for military wives and has been such an incredible blessing to me over the last couple of years! I participated in the study for the first time in January of 2008 and posted about it here. Little did i know what God had up his sleeve all those months ago and now here i am, facilitating the study for the 2nd time! I've got a great group of girls this time around and it is so very apparent to me that God placed each and every one of them in the group for very special reasons! I'm always so in awe when i am blessed to actually see God working in me and in others....such an amazing God we serve!

Then came Brayden's first field trip! Oh.My.Goodness. So stinkin' cute!! They went to the pumpkin patch and the park and i was blessed to be able to go along! The kids in his class were all so sweet and we had so much fun! I love that they all called me "Brayden's Mom"....so cute!

getting on the bus!

Brayden's Class (they made the little shirts they are wearing!) =)

And we wrapped up the month with Halloween! I had such a hard time getting into the "fall spirit" because i was too busy still sweating in the heat! CRAZY! Apparently fall is just something on the calendar in florida - not an actual season!! ha! But it managed to get just cool enough that we could wear long sleeves and the kids weren't too sweaty after trick or treating!! We went out to dinner and then trick or treating w/ some good friends and had a great time!

Darth Vader & Commander Fox

my cute lil family!

the boys with their buddy JM

Although October failed to usher in fall like i had hoped, it did turn out to be a fun month of memories and time spent together as a family! We are doing our absolute best to truly cherish the time we have here in pensacola with John home and not deploying!

**October 28th marked one month into my weight loss journey! I lost 9lbs in my first month!**

I'm Back!

2009-11-13T20:58:00.005-06:00

I am back from what feels like the longest blogging break EVER! There are several reasons for the break that i'm not even gonna bother getting into.....i'm just glad to be back! One of the original purposes of this blog for me, was a way to document the small and not so small happenings in day to day life, and while it has become so much more, i don't want to completely miss out on documenting some of what has been going on in the Miculka household the last few months! So i am going to break it down month by month in several posts! Bear with me.....i will get to the current happenings soon!! =)

The boys BOTH started school on August 24th. Colby started 3rd grade and Brayden started pre-k. I'm not going to lie...having them both in school was a rough adjustment. Brayden is going to school 5 days a week and the house felt so completely empty every morning. =( But I have come around and learned to enjoy the time i have each morning and the boys are both really enjoying school!

September brought our first MOPS meeting of the year, the surprise party of the year, a visit from John's mom and brother, our 5th wedding anniversary, and the beginning of my No More Excuses weight loss journey that i am stoked to share with y'all!!

I am a table leader for MOPS this year and i am LOVING it! The ladies at my table ROCK and it has been such a blessing to get to know each of them. I was a little apprehensive coming into the first meeting as i have not been a part of the MOPS organization for long and wasn't sure exactly what my place as a table leader would look like, but i quickly realized that i was right where God wanted me to be! Our Nov. meeting is next week and i can't wait!!!

Mid September we hosted the surprise party of the year at our house and it was SO FUN! It was our friend Eric's 30th birthday and his wife, Lisl, wanted to plan something special for him! So as far as he knew they were going out for a nice dinner after dropping the kiddos at our house! ;) We totally got him! He had no idea! He walked up to the door and was greeted by 50+ friends yelling "SURPRISE"!! This was the first time i have been in on a surprise party and i can't even begin to tell you how stinkin' exciting it was!!

some of the guests awaiting the arrival of the birthday boy!

The guest of honor!! He was so shocked!

blowing out the candles! (notice all the tea lights??!! we totally forgot to get candles and had to improvise last minute.....it just so happens we had exactly 30 tealights! ha!)

The day after the party, John's mom and brother got into town! We were excited to see them and the boys had a blast with them! The main reason for their visit was to watch the boys so that John and i could get away for a couple of days for our anniversary!! Doesn't seem possible that we have been married for 5 years but i can honestly say they have been 5 of the best years of my life!! We headed to Biloxi, MS for a little mini vegas honeymoon remake! We stayed at the Beau Rivage and had a great time!! I'm ashamed to admit that i didn't get many pictures at all.....=( But i did manage to atleast get one of John and I!

let me fill you in on a little secret....i NEVER wear my glasses anywhere but around the house. Until the morning we were leaving and i woke up with pink eye. OMG. So excuse the glare from my glasses! lol

And then on Monday, September 28th i began my life change. I faced up to, once and for all, the fact that my being overweight, out of shape and just plain unhealthy was my fault. And i made the choice to change. When i last posted i weighed about 192lbs. Shortly after my last post i got really really sick and lost about 12lbs, 5 of which i gained back when i was able to keep food down again. So i began my journey at 185lbs. I am counting calories. As in....measuring servings and keeping a journal of every single thing i eat and drink every single day. I am working out....i am working at becoming a runner. I've never been a runner but i am slowly becoming one! And i love it! Today is day 47 of my journey and i am EXCITED to share with you that as of Wednesday (my weekly "weigh" day) i have lost 14.4 lbs! It is HARD. I've had many UPS and many DOWNS. But i feel soooo much better. I haven't been this weight since i hit it while pregnant with Brayden almost 5 years ago. I can't change the fact that i let myself get to the point i was at 47 days ago. But i can change what i will be tomorrow, next week, next year. And that change is happening a little at a time....every day! I am excited to share with you the emotions, the highs, the lows, the journey. MY journey of NO MORE EXCUSES!

time for new pants much?!? i can seriously pull more than one pair of jeans on and off without buttoning or zipping and i am constantly having to pull my pants up and i LOVE IT! I'm trying to hold off as long as possible before buying new pants but the time (as you can see!) is drawing near!

So there it is.......the end of August brought a huge milestone for us with Brayden starting pre k meaning both boys are in school! And September was a great month full of love, friendship, blessings and fun!

*and just in case you are wondering....NO. I do not go out in public w/ my undies hanging out!! If i wasn't constantly pulling my pants up though, then i would be looking all gangsta like that! =)

Air Museum & The Blue's

2009-08-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

I can't believe how long it has been since i last posted! I have been so busy trying to soak up these last couple of weeks of summer vacation with the boys that i just completely neglected my blog!

Last week we went with some friends to the Naval Aviation Museum that is here on the base! Admission is FREE and they have so much fun stuff to see and play on! The boys had a blast with their friends and it was nice to be out of the house and not spending money! =) Here are a couple pics from the museum....

The kiddos w/ a sweet volunteer who told them all about this little old store!

Levi & Brayden taking a break from flying for a picture!

JT & Colby flying a helicopter

Most of you are probably familiar with the Blue Angels.....they perform at air shows across the nation every year and are very well known! It just so happens that we are blessed to live about 10 miles from their home base!!! It is not uncommon when we go to Target or Wal Mart to see them flying overhead as they practice! Even better......their practices are open to the public. You can go to the flight line and sit in bleachers and watch them practice their entire show!! Far closer and more personal an experience than any air show could ever provide and we went yesterday morning!!! It was AWESOME. AMAZING. Almost surreal. The boys LOVED every second of it and we are hoping to be able to go again soon and take Daddy with us!! Here are a few shots of the show.....they were flying a low show because of the clouds so there were some things they couldn't do but it was still a fabulous show!

waiting for the show to start!

Here they come!!!!

they called this a tight formation (there is about 18 inches clearance from wing of one plane to dome of another....CRAZY!)

waving the Blue Angels back!!!

If you are ever in the Pensacola area i highly recommend both the Air Museum and going to watch a Blue Angels practice! Both are budget friendly and fun, memory making opportunities!! We can't wait to go back and experience both again!

Fun & Friends

2009-08-07T11:55:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday our church had their second picnic of the summer. We had plans to go until we checked the weather. {because saturday was pretty stormy!} The forecast didn't look pretty and after chatting with some friends we were going to go with, we all decided to just plan on doing a bbq at our house instead of chance the weather! There was lots of food, laughter, and kiddos playing and having a great time!

this is 8 day old {at the time} Gavin! Is he not the most precious little thing?!

Brayden, JT, John Micheal, Colby, Levi & Alexis....buddies!
{they were all stinky & sweaty at this point accept Alexis of course!}

By the time everyone went home i'm pretty sure all of the boys had black feet from running around outside and they were all stinky sweaty! 2 signs of a great time had by boys!! ;) We are so blessed by all the wonderful friends we've made here and we always enjoy getting together!
{for the record....it never rained! ha! but we had a good time and that was the ultimate goal!}

Then yesterday, me and the boys met up with my friend Chastity and her kiddos for the library, park and a picnic! We had a really good time! My boys love the library and this was the first time we've made it since we moved here. {i know i know...sad!} When we finished at the library we headed down the street to the park and when the kiddos had played their hearts out we enjoyed a picnic lunch!

these flowers were all over at the park....they are soooo gorgeous! anyone know what they are?

Brayden swinging

Colby & JM on the tire swing

sweaty, tired boys finishing up their lunch

It was a great morning out of the house having fun with friends for both the kiddos and me! Its hard to believe that summer is already almost over! My guys start back to school on the 24th....when do kids start back where you are?!?

Oh what a day.....

2009-07-30T10:11:00.003-05:00

....and it is only 10 am!! ha! I swear it seems like these things only happen to me.....just when i think i've got it all together, i go and mess up royally! You know...to keep me humble and all that! lol Here is how our day started......

Colby left this morning for his first camp! He is over the moon excited and i have so enjoyed all the questions and talks and excitement this week! He is with a group of kids from church and our children's pastors {who by the way are FABULOUS}!! They went to Camp Baldwin in Alabama and have a full day of fun ahead of them!! He will be home tomorrow morning...so it is only one night and while it is so difficult to let go and let him grow up it is such a blessing to watch at the same time! So its 7am, we're all dressed and ready and heading out the door ON TIME! Here is our camper on his way out the door.....

Colby on his way out the door & Brayden excited for bubba!

And then it happened. The door to the house was closed {and locked} and we are all standing at the car waiting for the car doors to be unlocked. Only, John didn't have the keys. And neither did i. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Anyone out there know what it feels like to realize it is 7am, you are supposed to have your child to church to leave for his first ever camp that he is soooo excited about, and you are locked out of your house and out of your car?!? UGGHHHHH! So we called a friend who came and rescued us after having to get her little one up out of bed, called one of the children's pastors to let them know, and waited in the disgusting humidity for our rescuer to arrive! It was so nasty.....think sauna but you are dressed in jeans and a t shirt....GROSS!! And on top of it all, Brayden steps on a stick in the front yard and cuts the bottom of his foot. Fantastic. ha! Check out my 3 favorite people who were all kinds of not happy at this point......

3 not so happy guys & brayden showing me his boo boo

HaHa!! While it was so far from funny in the moment, i can now laugh about it! Colby made it to church and is now at camp having a blast and we are in our nice air conditioned home! {after a visit from the locksmith who even though he charged $45 for 1 minute of work was my best friend!} Just when i think i have it all together........=)

Critters of the South

2009-07-23T14:35:00.004-05:00

So....i just have to share with you a few of the critters we are apparently sharing our wonderful southern abode with! I DON'T. DO. CRITTERS. At all. Spiders, crickets, roaches, bugs, lizards, frogs, snakes. They all freak me out and make my skin crawl and while i understand they are all part of the food chain, i am also not okay with the food chain being inside my home or anywhere in the near vicinity. Oh yeah...and i have two boys who LOVE the fact that there are so many critters! Ahhhh!!!

In reality we don't deal with alot of them in the house but any in the house is too many for me!! We kill spiders in the house probably 3-4 times a week and then the occasional little random bugs and i understand this is a part of life. But the pictures i am about to show you are not okay and not "a part of life" that i will just be dealing with!

Exhibit 1:

that would be a scorpion on my living room carpet. and this is the second scorpion we have found in our house in the last few weeks. UGHHHH!!! So gross and scary!

Exhibit 2:

this one is what we call a banana spider. OH. MY. GOODNESS. it is big. and gross. and makes my skin crawl every single time i see it. And the boys LOVE it....the big boy (aka hubby) included. They feed it bugs. Disgusting. It resides in one of the hugest spider webs i've ever seen on the outside of Colby's bedroom window. Ugh.

Exhibit 3:

i don't know what in the world this one is called but it was HUGE and FREAKED me out! The banana spider may have survived out of love for my 3 favorite men but this one was a goner! No way am i letting it live.....it was on the front porch which is wayyy to close for comfort. Any critter lovers out there know what kind of spider it is??!!

Those are just 3 of the many, many odd and gross critters i have encountered so far here in the south! Yuck. Yuck. Yuck! Don't even get me started on "palmetto bugs" which is what they like to call roaches here. They are HUGE roaches....call em something different if it makes you feel better but they are roaches. When i say huge i mean i killed one on my front patio that was easily 2 1/2 - 3 inches long. SICK! Luckily i have only seen one in the house and it wasn't nearly that big and hubby was home to take care of it! AAAHHHHH.....save me from the critters of the south!!!! I'm guessing i'm not the only one with a critter aversion so what are YOUR least favorite?? Tell me all about the critters that make your skin crawl!!!

The Return of Reid

2009-07-22T12:24:00.003-05:00

Wow....the Men Tell All. I typically watch these "tell all" specials just because it's on but there is rarely one that i really enjoy. This one i actually laughed at and enjoyed! Those boys are some drama kings!! And some of the bloopers that they showed were classic...sooo funny!! And now for a list of some stand out moments for me....

*The drunk Ed scene....oh my goodness! It was hilarious to watch but i'll tell ya what...Jillian has far more patience than i do because i would have been so incredibly annoyed by his behavior. It made for good tv but i'm surprised it didn't bother her more that she has such limited time to get to know these guys and he pretty much wasted that opportunity to spend quality time talking with her!

*Michael Stag.....LOVE him! Such a classy gentleman with so much personality!! He is going to make one incredibly lucky lady very happy one day!!

*I was all about Jake in the beginning but i do have to admit that i was kind of annoyed by him on monday night. If he would stop bringing up how perfect he is than maybe others wouldn't focus on it either. Everything he said and did had a bit of passive aggressive cockiness to it...if that makes any sense! Something about him on this men tell all rubbed me the wrong way....

*Wes not being there.....i'm torn. I feel like abc quite possibly didn't let him come because they knew he wasn't going to play the game their way and they surely weren't going to air him calling them out on their falsifying thru editing. BUT there is a small part of me that questions why the guys all had not so nice things to say about him and even pinpointed shady things he said to them. I think the real truth most likely lies somewhere between Wes's side and abc's side and i'm done wasting time thinking about it. We'll never know the real truth so i'm moving on!

*Angry Dave. Oh Angry Dave. The dude just doesn't get it and it blows my mind that he could really be confused as to what would have made her feel so uncomfortable. I think it is sad that Dave has seemingly never been shown or taught how to respect a woman and it's hard to see what you are doing wrong when you've never been taught any different. SAD!

*Jason & Molly....i've gotta say that they actually are a really cute couple. I half way follow them on another website so i knew they were still together. I really hope it works out for them....Jason may not have gone about it in the best way but i do believe his motives for doing what he did were right. And it took alot of guts to do it which i think speaks highly of his feelings for Molly...wish them all the best!

*And now....THE RETURN OF REID!!!!!! Oh my word.....i cannot wait to see the finale next week and see exactly how Reid coming back plays out. I am going to let my hopelessly romantic mind get carried away with dreams of them ending up together for this week! I KNOW it probably won't happen but hey.....a girl can dream right???

I truly just don't see her and Ed together.....something is just not there. If i was forced to choose one of the final two i would say her and Kiptyn stand a better chance than her and Ed. But i just dont really see it working out long term with either of them. Looking forward to monday and the most dramatic finale EVER!!!! haha! What are all my fellow fans thinking???

This one's for you April!! ;)

2009-07-15T23:50:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure how many of you have missed me posting my thoughts on the Bachelorette, but i know my bloggy friend April, at Straight From the Heart, has!! ha! She has been sure to let me know she misses hearing all about what i'm thinking and she is pretty much fabulous so here i am with my thoughts on the Bachelorette!

Sooooo much has happened since the last time i posted and i'm not about to try to remember all of it!! Here are a few things that stand out......

*I think Michael is one of my all time favorite guys on this show so far!! He was goofy but so sweet and fun and cute. I wish there could have been more between them but i hope they stay friends! He was just such a sweetheart and it broke my heart the night she let him go....he was such a gentleman but you could see he was just crushed. He almost made me wanna learn how to break dance!! ha!

* the whole Ed leaving and coming back. Not exactly sure how i feel about that...I like Ed. I don't know that i like Ed and Jill together. There is just something that isn't right......something is missing. There is an awkwardness about them that is just weird. And don't even think i am going to skip over talking about the booty shorts he was wearing on Monday's episode. SERIOUSLY?!?! Words fail me.....i still can't believe he wore those on national television. And the "situation" between them on monday night...well.....i dont know exactly what happened and to be honest i don't want to know exactly what happened. Regardless of what happened i think they could have done without airing it.

* Wes. geez....let me just say that i don't think Wes was portrayed as the person he really is. at all. I listened to an interview that Reality Steve did with Wes and it really helped me to understand a little more of who Wes really is and how the producers butchered him with the editing they did. I was most definitely a member of the Wes haters club until i heard the interview. I'm going to leave it at that...if you would like you can find the interview here.

* Kiptyn ~ i don't think i've hidden the fact that from the very beginning i have liked Kiptyn! He is so stinkin' cute and watching him and Jillian together just makes me smile. However, she seems very insecure about their relationship, almost like she doesn't feel like she's good enough for him. Does anyone else get that feeling?? They make such a cute couple but she really seems to have alot of hesitation when it comes to him. I think between Ed and Kiptyn my choice for her would definitely be Kiptyn but i'm still just not too sure about them.

* I am soooo SAD that she let Reid go. I think he is just about the cutest thing besides my hubby of course!! ;) And Reid is soooo a boy version of me! haha! The whole fondue thing, washing the veggies....oh my goodness.....i had more than one friend comment about how he was a boy version of me with all of his neurotic tendencies and i would have to agree!! I think that Reid had very real feelings for her and that he was being very realistic in his struggle with opening up and promising a proposal after knowing her for 6 weeks or so. My personal opinion is that she made a BIG mistake letting him go....and she didn't seem very sure of her decision at all. Sad, Sad, Sad!

* I am really at a loss as far as what to expect on the finale! The hopeless romantic in me hopes that Reid comes back, tells her he loves her and they live happily ever after!! I just don't see her with either Kiptyn or Ed but if i had to choose one of them i would say Kiptyn. I'm just really not sure what will go down......i'm excited to see!

So, there ya have it! My thoughts as of now about all that has been going on with Miss Jillian and her men!! And let me just add that it is 1am so i'm sure there are things i am forgetting but this is what i've got right now! I'd love to hear what all my fellow Bachelorette fans are thinking.....chime in!! What are your thoughts?? Who do you think will be the one in the end??

Menu Plan Monday

2009-07-13T16:58:00.004-05:00

With my lack of blogging, i have failed to post my weekly menu's for i don't even know how long! But i'm back!! Menu planning has become my best friend~ i {heart} it! And even when i wasn't posting them, i was still planning my menu! Such a lifesaver! Here is what will be filling our tummies in the Miculka household this week!!

Monday~ Ordering Pizza (YUMMO!)

Tuesday~ Crockpot BBQ Chicken w/ Corn & Rolls

Wednesday~ Chicken Enchiladas w/ Pinto Beans

Thursday~ Tater Tot Casserole

Friday~ Shake-n-Bake Chicken, Wild Rice & Broccoli

Saturday~ Hamburgers & Hotdogs, Baked Beans, German Potato Salad, & Corn on the Cob

Sunday~ Eat Out!

Don't forget to head over to orgjunkie.com and check out all the menu planning madness!!! Sooo many recipes and a wealth of meal time inspiration!

Tater Tot Casserole

2009-07-13T14:10:00.000-05:00

I know everyone has their own variation of tater tot casserole, but thought i would share ours!! Simple, Quick and Good.....my type of dinner!! =)

1lb of ground turkey (or beef)
1 sm onion, chopped
1 microwave steam bag of frozen peas (or 1 can)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 soup can of milk
frozen tater tots

Preheat oven according to directions on the tater tot package. Brown meat and onion until meat is no longer pink. Steam peas in microwave. In a casserole dish (i use a round one) mix together cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 soup can of milk, cooked peas, & meat and onion mixture. Cover top of mixture with tater tots and bake according to directions on the tater tot packaging! Enjoy!

German Potato Salad

2009-07-13T14:00:00.000-05:00

This is more of a "by taste/preference" type of recipe than a carefully measured one! So this is a general guide but man oh man is this stuff good!!!!

sm. bag red potatoes (boiled & cubed)
6 eggs (hard boiled, peeled & chopped)
1 pkg bacon (cooked crisp & crumbled)
sm bottle of italian dressing
1 sm onion (diced)
mayo (approx. 1/2 cup)
salt & pepper to taste

Put potatoes in a large bowl and pour italian dressing over them. Mix in onion, bacon, & mayo. Salt and pepper to taste and ENJOY!

VBS & The Accident

2009-07-10T20:17:00.004-05:00

I have given up on finding time to do a post about the second leg of our texas visit. There are just too many pictures and our laptop takes entirely toooo long to download the pics so o well...gonna just move on!

This whole week the boys have been attending vbs at our church! We love our church family and their focus on reaching out to children! Our children's pastors, Jerry and Sharon, along with all the volunteers are simply the best. And this week's vbs has been impressive to say the least! The boys are having a BLAST and more importantly they are learning...soaking in God's word. There were more than 50 kiddos who accepted Christ as their Savior this week....there just aren't words......such a blessing! Here are a few pics from the last week...

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AND...the accident. If there is one thing i have learned as a mommy it is that there is never a dull moment! There are funny times, sweet times, hard times, and scary times but never a dull moment. Last night was one of those scary times that you always wonder how you would handle but hope you never have to find out. I found out. And surprisingly, i was able to remain calm until help got here and then i kinda broke down a little.

So...it's around 10pm, the boys are home from vbs, bathed, ready for bed. I'm on the phone with hubby (who is on "lunch" break at work) about to wrap up the conversation so i tell the boys to go hop in bed and i will be in shortly to tuck them in. A few minutes later i hear what i thought was the boys slamming the cabinet door shut on Brayden's armoire, followed by a earth shattering scream. Out comes Colby w/ a pale face quickly followed by Brayden and there was blood. Everywhere. It's coming from his head. OH. MY. GOODNESS. "Keep your cool" is what i'm telling myself while telling John to come home NOW. I move brayden's hand away from his head and his forehead is split open....deep. I prayed the only thing i could muster which was something along the lines of "help me God" and the peace that came over me was unreal. God is good. I was able to calm Brayden, calm Colby who was freaking out to say the least, get the bleeding significantly slowed, call a friend to come stay w/ Colby and within 15-20 minutes my girlfriend was here, John was home and we were on our way to the ER.

doesn't look so bad huh? oh man...if only i had a pic of it before the doc worked his magic!

They were able to use DermaBond, which was such a blessing!!! I didn't know if i could take watching them do stitches, nor did i think i could handle walking away from my baby while they did them. So....8 years of being a mommy of boys and i made my first bloody er trip last night. My heart still races thinking about it.....and of course it was a clean split so the pictures don't look all that bad but let me just say this....the entire head of the q-tip the doc used to numb it, fit all the way INSIDE the cut. AAHHHH!!! Oh yeah...i guess your probably wondering what actually happened huh?? Apparently they decided jumping on the bed would be way more fun than laying down like they were told to do. The sound i heard was Brayden's head hitting the solid oak footboard, NOT a cabinet door slamming like it thought. It still makes my stomach turn to think about that.

He is doing just fine now! Tired from being up so late but otherwise fine! Of course i am a nervous wreck trying to make sure it stays dry and that he doesn't scratch or rub it. And maybe its just me but suddenly it seems like he is tripping and falling constantly and my heart momentarily stops every time until i am sure he hasn't hit his head again...goodness gracious! Funny times, Hard times, Sweet times, and ohhhh the Scary times. All of it makes up mommyhood and i wouldn't trade a single second of it cause these two....

HAVE MY HEART!!!

Better Late than Never - Part 1

2009-06-26T14:31:00.007-05:00

Yes, it has been almost a month since we went on vacation to Texas. And yes, i am just now getting around to posting about it! Sad, i know but things have been crazy busy and there is so much fun to be had that blogging keeps getting pushed down on the priority list! But i didn't want to miss posting about our trip if for no other reason than to preserve the memories of the fun we had!!

Uncle Eric, yours truly, hubby, Brayden & Colby

and you can see part of the ice cream cake Culka made the boys!

It was about a 10 1/2 hour drive to get to John's parent's house which was stop #1 on our trip!! It was a pretty uneventful drive and both of the boys handled it well! It was late when we got in so we said our hello's, let the boys play off some of their cooped up energy for a little while and then got to bed! The next day was spent just being together and enjoying each other! The boys ran and played ALL day long and had a blast! There was lots of exploring, getting dirty and FUN just being boys!! They caught snakes, bugs, explored, had water gun fights, and enjoyed the tree swing that daddy and uncle eric made.

Uncle Eric giving Brayden a little pep talk after a tantrum! =)

Uncle Eric and Colby in a water gun fight!

The next day, John's parents had a birthday party for the boys at Chuck E Cheese! The boys were very excited and it was lots of fun to see so many friends and family! A good time was had by all...adults and kids alike enjoyed the games! Papa Culka and Uncle Eric won LOTS of tickets for the birthday boys, which they thoroughly enjoyed using and me and Culka enjoyed not having to clean up or doing any preparing for the party!! ;) The boys got lots of great gifts and had a BLAST!

Papa Culka and Uncle Eric winning LOTS of tickets!!

Blowing out the candles!

Brayden opening gifts

looks like he likes what he sees!

our bday boys w/ Chuck E.

The Miculka's - June 09

Culka & her boys!

Our last day there we visited John's grandparents. It is always such a treat to spend time with them....they are so sweet and such a beautiful picture of a lifetime of love and family! My only regret is that i didn't snap any pictures while there and will have to make sure to do that next time. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing and cherishing our time together!! Evelyn, Jimmy, & Eric~ Thank you so much for having us and for everything while we were there!! We had such a good time and can't wait to see you guys again!!

Up next i will post about the next leg of our trip which was visiting my family in the San Antonio area!! Now i'm off to enjoy some summer fun with my 3 favorite guys!! =)

Yup...

2009-06-14T15:31:00.002-05:00

i am alive!!! haha! Things have just been crazy! Here is a super quick bullet point list of whats been going on......i AM going to make time to post more this week and get caught up!!

*We had a fantastic trip back home to Texas! Busy but we got to see lots of friends and family and we had a great time celebrating both boys birthdays!

*I am now the mommy of an 8 yr old and a 4 yr old. Unreal. How did that happen??

*I am now officially in survival mode trying to make it thru my first Florida summer! Holy heat and humidity batman......i thought i had a general idea what i was up against having grown up in texas but boy was i wrong! Pray that i make it!

*Hubby and I are lost in a world of coupon-ing and scoring deals...its addicting....more to come on this soon!

*I am facilitating a bible study this summer for military wives (starting tuesday) and i am nervous, excited, anxious and completely humbled that God would use me in this way. Prayers for His will to be done thru this wonderful study would be greatly appreciated!! Seriously...me?? I feel so unworthy but what a blessing this will be for my walk with the Lord....i will HAVE to rely on Him completely!! Without Him i am not qualified or capable! And i pray this will be a huge blessing to the women who will be there!!

*I am in the process of trying to get into a routine now that summer is upon us and Colby is out of school! And yes....blogging will be a part of that routine!! Posting twice a week is my goal~i believe that is realistic and do-able! I am a planner, perfectionist and over thinker. Lately i have realized that i had very unrealistic blogging goals for my life as it is right now and so i would get stressed that i wasn't living up to my self imposed "quota" and so i would just not blog at all to avoid stressing over the fact that it had been so long etc etc etc. Yes, i realize i am crazy! ha! So for the sake of my sanity i have re-evaluated what is do-able for me and have set new blogging goals for myself! Feel free to tell me what a kook i am-i know it and promise you won't hurt my feelings! =)

* We got to church this morning with plans to attend the church picnic this evening and got home from church with plans for friends to all come to our place instead!! So an impromptu bbq it is!! I should probably wrap this up and get to slicin' tomatoes and onions, makin' tea so everyone has something to drink, and makin' sure we have everything we will need!

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their weekend!! Look for pictures and a summary of our visit to texas later this week!!

Are you Lovin' It??

2009-05-26T19:26:00.002-05:00

Cause i am lovin' that the Bachelorette is back!! Especially since most of my other shows ended for the summer!! Last night's episode was good....actually i thought it was really good!

The first group date....another pool party. Interesting mix of guys....definitely a few that i was interested to "get to know" more about. Oh wait a second...what is this??? A new date idea?? (if you can really call a one girl/8 guy ratio a date!) Abc scores some creativity points for that one....i liked the whole scavenger hunt idea! Biggest stand out on the pool party turned scavenger hunt date is that i don't like Wes as much as i thought. Actually i just don't like him at all after what i saw last night. He seems "shady" for lack of a better word! He seems disrespectful and my impression after last night and the way he acted is that his intentions are no where near what they should be. Glad to see she kinda picked up on it but hopefully she will see right through it soon and send him and his geee-tar packin'!

Up next...the 1 on 1! And with Jake!! I was a little too excited when i heard he was the guy for the 1 on 1 date! He is just so darn cute but i was wondering if they would be a good fit for each other. Ummm yeah.....i had a perma-grin right along with her! They were adorable.....loved their date, loved how giddy she seemed, and loved them together!!! Something about the two of them just makes me smile! =) It will be fun to see it play out......i just hope he doesn't end up getting hurt.

The second group date was ok. Definitely got to see some of the guys personalities come out a little more! I think first impression rose guy (can't remember his name) has some anger management issues. I get that you don't like Juan (i don't either but i'll get to that in a minute) but geez dude....take a chill pill. I couldn't quite grasp why he got so worked up about anything Juan did! And yes....my thoughts on Juan. Don't like him at all. He rubs me the wrong way. He seems incredibly fake and like he would say whatever he thinks she wants to hear. And a little too cocky for my taste too. Won't be sad at all to see him go! Anyway~moving on! My other fave, Kiptyn, did not disappoint last night. They are really cute together and seem to really get along well! I would have loved to see him get the rose on the date....the whole run into the water in the speedo was sorta silly to me and i hardly think it deserved the rose! Come on Jill!! Give Kiptyn the rose!! ;)

And of course the cocktail party and rose ceremony! The whole vote for who you want to see go home thing is kind of lame~they need to drop that next season! But of course i wasn't surprised that Juan got the most votes! I'm sure if Wes didn't already have a rose he would have been the lucky winner and would have been just as deserving. My favorite moment of the cocktail party~sir nudity from Alabama. Someone should have clued him in that this was a cocktail party in a cali mansion, not a frat party. But it made for some great laughs! I wasn't really surprised by her choices in the rose ceremony~i think there are a few more that she needs to weed out before it will be harder to guess!

As always i am looking forward to next week and looking forward to hearing what you guys are thinking!! Who are your favorites right now?? What are some funnies that have stood out to you?? Can't wait to hear from you~my fellow bachelor/ette fans!!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-26T08:50:00.000-05:00

This week's menu plan is short! We are leaving on friday to go out of town for a little over a week so i am only planning for a few days!! And as i'm sure you all know, when you are planning and getting ready for a family trip there is so much to do so my meals are pretty simple!! We will be headed to texas to visit family and celebrate the boys' birthdays with family and friends there!! Colby and Brayden are over the moon with excitement.....they will have 2 parties.....one at chuck e cheese with John's family and our friends in his hometown and then a pool party with my family and all of our friends where i grew up!! We are so blessed to have the opportunity to go visit with everyone and can't wait to get there and spend time with them!! In the meantime here is what we will be filling our tummies with this week....

Monday~ We went to a pool party and bbq with some friends!! I made tortellini salad and it is soooo good!!

Tuesday~ Crockpot BBQ Chicken w/ corn & bread-n-butter

Wednesday~ Shake n Bake Chicken w/ wild rice & broccoli

Thursday~ Chicken Nuggets w/ mac-n-cheese & mixed veggies! (i'm sure you've noticed this is a staple dinner around this house!! The boys are always excited when we have this!!)

Fri-Sun~ OUT OF TOWN!!! YAY!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend full of friends, family and remembrance! Head on over to orgjunkie.com and be inspired!! So many menus and recipes to browse thru.....you wont be disappointed!

Tortellini Salad

2009-05-26T08:46:00.002-05:00

This stuff is delicious! I {heart} cheese tortellini, artichoke and feta cheese so mix them all together with other yummies and i'm sold!!

Salad: 1~20oz pkg cheese tortellini
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1~8 oz jar artichokes-diced
1 C tomato-diced
1 C crumbled feta
1/2 C sliced black olives

Dressing: 1/2 C olive oil
1/4 C white wine vinegar
1/4 C green onion-chopped
3 cloves garlic-minced
1 tsp dried dill
1 Tbsp dried basil

Cook tortellini as directed on package. Drain and run under cool water to prevent sticking. Let cool. Add walnuts, artichoke, tomato, olives & feta. In a separate bowl mix all dressing ingredients together. Toss the dressing in with the salad and ENJOY!!

*i always find that it is better if you make it the day before and let it sit in the fridge over night!*

Honor

2009-05-24T13:17:00.000-05:00

Memorial Day is upon us and this is one holiday that evokes so many emotions for me. Honor. Pride. Sadness. Optimism. Awe. And the list could go on and on. Tears fill my eyes when i take time to consider how blessed i am to live in this amazing country!

So many men and women pledge their lives to defend this great country. To defend my rights, our freedoms. I am filled with optimism when i look into the young faces of new sailors, airmen, and soldiers who have so selflessly signed on that dotted line to protect me and my family. I stand in awe of the many, many sacrifices that are made day in and day out by every American service member and their families. I am saddened when remembering the somber truth that lives have been lost in the fight to defend our freedom.....lives lost for you and for me. I am filled with pride to be an American! To live in the land of the free because of these brave men and women! I am honored to have grown up with 2 parents who served in the United States Air Force. And i am humbled that God has chosen me and called me to serve as a US Navy wife. I am so proud to say that my best friend, my lover, my husband is one of the brave. One of those who is selflessly fulfilling his God given calling in this life to serve this great country.

It is my prayer that as we all enjoy family and friends this holiday weekend at bbq's and picnics, parades and get togethers, that we would pause to remember those who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms we have that are all too easy to take for granted. I cherish this country and the blessing it is to be a citizen of such a great nation. And this weekend i will remember in prayer all the lives lost and those who have been left behind.....may God pour out his comfort and love on all the family and friends who remember a loved one lost this weekend. And may He protect all of those who are serving around the world today and keep them from harm's way! I am truly proud to be an American....God Bless this Great Nation!!! Happy Memorial Day!!

Its that time again!

2009-05-19T14:28:00.000-05:00

That's right folks.....The Bachelorette!!!

Wowsers.....30 guys! Can you imagine??!! And surprisingly there were actually quite a few who were decent!! And the previews promise a dramatic season....especially for dudes! I was surprised at the tears and drama in the previews~i expect it from chicks but am definitely looking forward to seeing what it is all about with the dudes!! =) Hubby watched it with me last night and was quite comical with his commentary on all the guys! So here are the thoughts that have stuck after watching last night.....

*Foot dude was creepy. I was surprised she kept him-someone definitely needs to let her in on his over the top foot weirdness!

*Did anyone else catch that one of the guys got out of the limo and called her "hottub harris"??? Seriously?? And if one more guy brought up jason i might have had to scream....you have very limited time w/ her so why in the world would you waste it talking about jason or last season??!!

*And how about Billbro (or however you spell it), the fitness model! ha! I don't even know where to start.....i'll just say that he gave us a few good laughs!!

*Loved the English man's accent and cracked up that they felt the need to use captions. ha!

*Ed (one of the surprise 5) looks soooo much like a friend of ours from Washington that its almost kinda creepy! But if Ed is as good a guy as our friend than Jill is in luck!!

And now for my faves! Like i said already, alot of the guys seemed pretty decent but there are 3 that really stuck out to me after last night! I really liked Jake the pilot, Wes the country singer and Kiptyn the cutie(i don't remember what he does!)!! They all three were good looking and seemed very genuine! I'm excited to see how everything plays out....she definitely has some quality guys to get to know! What are everyone else's thoughts?? Can't wait to chat each week as the season unfolds!! =)

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-19T08:01:00.000-05:00

Ok...so life has been crazy the last few weeks. There have been so many unexpected things that have come up that have made having any sort of routine impossible, which tends to stress me out cause i don't like not being in control! But alas....God is working on me in this department, that is for sure, and little by little i am learning to let go and hand control over to HIM but it sure isn't easy and i still have a long way to go!! Needless to say i did not do a menu plan last week.....this week is crazy as we are getting ready to go out of town next week and i am soooo far behind on everything because of the craziness of the last few weeks...you get my drift. YIKES!! But i am determined to stick to my menu this week!! So here it is...

Monday~ Eat out!

Tuesday~ Cheesy Chicken Bundles, Green Beans, & Mashed Potatoes

Wednesday~ Crockpot BBQ Chicken, corn, & bread-n-butter

Thursday~ Cornbread Casserole

Friday~ Grill Out - Burgers, Hotdogs, Baked Beans & Asparagus

Saturday~ Grilled Sausage w/ Baked Zucchini & Potatoes

Sunday~ Mini Pigs in a Blanket w/ Broccoli, Carrots & Ranch

Don't forget to head over to orgjunkie.com to check out all the other menu planning going on! There is never a shortage of ideas and recipes that do not disappoint!!

What a Day!

2009-05-11T09:44:00.000-05:00

Well, as you already know i didn't get around to the picture post i wanted to last week so that is still to come! But i just have to share what a special Mother's Day i had!! Words can't say how blessed i feel to be the woman God chose to be these lil men's Mommy! They bring so much joy and happiness while challenging me in so many ways and all of it is so beautiful to me!

My day started with the two cutest boys ever waking me up (@8...score!) and lavishing me with hugs and cuddles! Then they gave me the gifts they made me with a little assistance from Daddy thru the week.....so sweet and better than any gift money could buy!! John passed on a card and instead wrote me a letter telling me how much i mean to him and what it means to him to have me as the mother of his children....he couldn't have done any better. His words mean so much to me and it is such a blessing to know that he feels the way he does! He also got me a dvd that i had mentioned a while back and never dreamed that he even payed any attention to but alas he surprised me! What a man! It certainly wasn't anything fancy but the thought that went into it is worth more than any fancy gift to me!! The only downer was that Colby is stillllll sick so we didn't get to go to church as a family. =( So John stayed home and off to church i went where i was so blessed by the worship, message, and fellowship. Seriously ya'll......our church family rocks!

After a couple of hours of down time w/ my 3 favorite men i was off for coffee, pedicures, and shopping with a couple of great Mommy friends! We had such a good time....God has been so faithful to bring amazing women into my life that i am incredibly blessed to call my friends! After our pampering and lots of laughs i was on my way home with pretty piggies, a new shirt and a new pair of flip flops in tow! Let me just tell ya....there is something about a pedicure and a cute new pair of flip flops that makes my heart happy!!

I truly couldn't have asked for a better day and i am more and more grateful all the time for these two little men who have blessed me with the best job title ever....a Mommy!

ps...my menu plan monday post will hopefully be up later today or tonight....or maybe tomorrow....who knows! Things are a little up in the air today and i have to keep ya guessin' ya know! ;)

Menu Plan Monday

2009-05-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

Ok....so i seriously can't believe anybody still comes to this blog and reads it. But i love those of you who do and i promise i am going to start posting a little more! Things have just been unexpectedly crazy the last few weeks! I miss posting and have lots of pictures to share so i am planning on doing a picture post later this week and getting back into the hang of posting!

And now for our menu plan for the week! I just cant begin to tell you how much doing this weekly menu plan has helped me out!!! It really just blows my mind how something so simple can make such a huge difference!

Monday ~ Soup & Crackers (the boys are coughing and running fevers so we are taking it easy tonight!)

Tuesday ~ Taquitos w/ guacamole and sour cream, Spanish Rice and Pinto Beans-Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Wednesday ~ Crockpot Cowboy Stew

Thursday ~ Shake-n-Bake Chicken w/Wild Rice & Broccoli

Friday ~ Cornbread Casserole (this is one of Colby's favorites and i felt so bad when i made it for some friends last week and didn't have any for him so i am making it for us this week!)

Saturday ~ BBQ Chicken w/ Baked Zucchini & Red Potatoes

Sunday ~ Chicken Nuggets w/ Mac n Cheese & Mix Veggies-Happy Mothers Day!! (we are going out for lunch after church and then i will be spending the afternoon w/ some girlfriends so i wanted something simple and this just happens to be the boys FAVE!!)

There ya have it!! And yes...i am making shake-n-bake! Don't judge! ha! I love that stuff and it is sooo stinkin' simple!! Be sure to head over to orgjunkie.com and check out all menu planning goin' on!! ;)

Thanks & MPM

2009-04-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

I want to start by thanking all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. I just never dreamed that this blog would be a place i would turn for either of those things but i am so incredibly grateful for the friendships i have made here! I continue to swing between peace, shock, and heartbreak but more and more i am at peace. It still hurts and there are times when i will hear a song or a memory will unexpectedly come up in my mind and i cry but they are tears of joy mixed with heartache. Joy for Erika. For the blessing she was to me. For the fact that she will never feel any of this hurt or pain again. For the lessons i have taken away from this......this has changed me in ways i can't even explain. I can't think of a time when i have ever felt closer to God and i am soaking up his whispers of comfort and unexplainable peace. I don't understand why, but for the first time in my life i can honestly say that i am at peace with not understanding why! And only by the grace of my Father above can i say that! I will be meeting with the other girls from my bible study group tomorrow morning to pray and remember and then on Friday we will celebrate Erika's life at her memorial service. Please continue to pray for Rob and the boys and for all of their family as they continue to grieve. At times there is no greater gift than prayer and i whole heartedly believe this is one of those times!

And now....the menu plan for the week. Things are a little crazy this week but i'm lost without a plan and so here it is!

Monday ~ Order Pizza (and it was fabulous!) ;)

Tuesday ~ Spaghetti, Garlic Bread and Green Salad

Wednesday ~ Cornbread Casserole* (that i am making for a couple in our small group who had a baby boy last week! We will just be eating something quick because we have to drop the meal off and get to awana where Brayden has an awards ceremony this week!)

Thursday ~ Crispy Ranch Chicken* w/ Garlic Muffins* and Broccoli (this one didn't happen last week!)

Friday ~ I am making Cornflake Cheesy Potatoes* for the memorial service meal and i am making cucumber dip and something sweet (not sure what yet...any suggestions??) for a pampered chef party that i am having that night! John and the boys are on their own! =)

Saturday ~ Breakfast for Dinner ~ Bacon, Eggs, Biscuits and Fruit

Sunday ~ Easy Chicken Parmesan*

* these are recipes that i have linked to in previous menu plan posts but i'm too lazy to link to them again right now!

So there you have it! I know this is a boring menu with no links but if i find time later this week i will post the recipe for the cucumber dip cause it is fabulous! I pray you all have a fantastic week and don't forget to check out all the menu planning action over at orgjunkie.com!

Please Pray.....

2009-04-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

It is with a broken heart that i write this morning and ask for prayer....i received a phone call this morning with news that a friend from church was killed in a car accident last night. She and her husband are in our small group and i have been blessed to grow even closer to her thru a bible study the last couple of months. I'm torn between the peace of knowing that she is home w/ our Lord now and the hurt for her husband and their two beautiful boys. Erika was such a blessing and will be so incredibly missed. She was a wonderful wife, Mommy, and friend. Please pray for her husband, Rob, and their two boys, Andrew-2 and James-not even 1. Pray for peace and comfort as they grieve this tragic loss. If nothing else this has done something indescribable in my heart today.......every single day we have is a blessing and the reality is that i haven't treated my days that way lately.

Romans 8:28
And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

It's easy to question God in difficult times like this but i KNOW God is good. And in times like this when my earthly mind cannot understand i will cling to His word....His promises. He works for the good of those who love him. Erika loved our Lord and Savior and she is home w/ Him now and He is working for the good even when we don't understand. I am so blessed knowing that i can come to all of you for prayer and i thank you for that! I pray you are all having a wonderful weekend enjoying your family and not sweating the small stuff!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-04-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I spent way toooo much time looking around on the web over the last week and i found LOTS of recipes i want to try!! So this week we are trying all kinds of new things and i am excited...it all sounds so good! I'm linking to lots of different sites this week so be sure to let me know if you decide to try any of the recipes!!

Monday: Spinach Carbonara Pizza

Tuesday: Crispy Ranch Chicken w/ Garlic Muffins & Broccoli

Wednesday: Crockpot Salsa Chicken over Rice w/ Corn

Thursday: Spaghetti w/ Green Salad & Garlic Bread

Friday: Poppyseed Chicken over Rice w/ Mix Veggies

Saturday: Ham w/ Pineapple Sauce w/ Mashed Sweet Potatoes & Green Beans Almondine

Last week i went to a pampered chef party and the consultant made spinach carbonara pizza and it was sooooo good, so i looked up the recipe and threw it into our menu this week! And Hubby has been craving sweet potatoes so i figured i would try a new sweet potato recipe! This week should be fun with all the new things we are trying! Don't forget to check out orgjunkie.com for lots of yummy ideas and recipes!!

ps....there was a main water line break close to our house on saturday and our water was out ALL day! Needless to say, i wasn't going to cook w/ no water to wash dishes and no idea when the water would be back on, so the mashed cauliflower will have to wait! I will probably put it on the menu again next week!

Let me introduce you to....

2009-04-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

Stinky!!!

We got to dog sit this weekend and while i was a little concerned at first, i have to admit that it was alot of fun! Stinky was such a good boy and Colby and Brayden had a blast! It almost makes me want a dog. BUT see the thing is that i want a Stinky......i want a dog that is already house trained and doesn't chew on any and everything and is sweet and not super hyper and the list could go on and on! And well....Stinky is taken so we will just have to enjoy him when he visits i suppose!!

Isn't he the cutest little thing?? And he is so sweet too! And he loves to play....i enjoyed watching him run and bounce around the back yard with the boys! And oh my...his bushy eyebrows get me every time! He is just too. stinkin. cute. {sigh} I never thought i would say this about a dog, but i actually kind of miss him!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-04-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

So last week i really shouldn't have even bothered with a menu plan because nothing really happened like i thought it would! We had a great spring break! The one benefit of daddy working evenings is that he was home during the day all week so we got to have lots of family fun!! This week we are back to the daily grind and back to sticking to our menu plan!!

Monday: frozen dinners*

Tuesday: Tuna Casserole

Wednesday: Crockpot Brown Sugar Chicken w/ steamed rice & broccoli

Thursday: Cornbread Casserole

Friday: Potato Soup w/ crackers

Saturday: Meatloaf w/ mashed cauliflower & green beans**

Sunday: left overs/ take out

* we've had these frozen dinners in the freezer for soooo long that i decided we are just going to eat them tonight to get them out of the freezer!

** i heard of doing mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes on Biggest Loser and a girlfriend of mine tried and said its actually really good so we're gonna give it a try!

We had the crockpot brown sugar chicken a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it!! So we are having it again this week and the boys (hubby included) ;) are super excited. If you missed the recipe before you can go here to get it. And you should. You really really should try it! And don't forget to head over to orgjunkie.com to check out all the menu planning fun!

Its that time again.....

2009-04-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Well, we survived the first week of daddy working evenings and i feel like we are getting in a semi-routine! And really.....that's the best i can wish for! With a work schedule that will change every 6 weeks its tough to settle into any solid routine too much! This week we are on spring break and have all kinds of fun planned so our menu contains way more eating out than any menu really should but i'm taking the break in spring break seriously!! ;) Here's what will fuel the madness around here this week!

Monday: Take Out
Tuesday: Crock pot Lemon Chicken w/ steamed rice & broccoli
Wednesday: Take Out
Thursday: Tacos
Friday: Order Pizza
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner~sausage gravy over biscuits & scrambled eggs
Sunday: Lasagna w/ salad & garlic bread

So there ya have it! I actually thought long and hard about trying to plan on making more meals at home this week but the reality is this menu better reflects what will really happen!! I will be back later this week to post about our spring break fun and until then head on over to orgjunkie.com and check out all the menu planning goin' on! Have a FABULOUS week!! =)

A Breath of Fresh Air

2009-04-04T21:12:00.000-05:00

I figure since i posted about how yucky the weather had been for so long, that i would now post about how GORGEOUS the weather has been the last couple of days!! We have been loving it....sunshine, breezy, mid to upper 70's.....soooo beautiful!! (of course this is what our summer's have been like for the last 3 yrs so please don't remind me just yet how much hotter it is going to get!) So here is a little peek at what we've been up to....

Hyper Dash
(this game ROCKS!)

Bubbles
(lots and lots of bubbles!)

Car Washin'
(long overdue!)

a little BBQ action for dinner
(isn't he a hottie standing there w/ his man toy?!?)

and we ended the night watching a movie together
(atleast most of us were watching it! ha!)

It has been a great kick off to our spring break! We have a chance for some rain tomorrow (and since we spread grass seed and fertilizer today, we wouldn't really mind!) but then the forecast for the rest of the week looks GREAT!! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled programming.....

2009-04-02T15:30:00.000-05:00

......to bring you the latest from Lake Miculka! ha! It has been raining, and raining, and raining.....for most of the last week! And i know what you're all thinking.....didn't you just move from northwest washington where it rains like 9 months a year?? Why yes i did! But.....it rains lightly up there. Here...it POURS!! Its been years since i've seen storms like this! The thunder, lightning, can't see 2 feet in front of you cause it's raining so hard kind! Craziness! And now....who could of guessed God would bless us with waterfront property??!! Here is our backyard...or lake....or whatever you want to call it......

That water is inches deep...YUCK!

The boys are tired of being stuck inside and i am very ready for them to be able to have a little outside play time again! Coloring, playdough, wii, and crafts only go so far with two rambunctious boys!! So i'm curious....what are your favorite inside activities for the kiddos?? Can't wait to hear what all of you do to stay busy when mother nature doesn't allow for outside time, so please do share!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-03-30T14:35:00.000-05:00

Last week there ended up being a couple of changes to the menu for a couple of different reasons, but both meals that we didn't make, i have pushed to this week so it all works out!! And let me tell ya...the brown sugar chicken was AMAZING!!! It was soooo good...a big hit with the whole family!!

This week, hubby's work schedule is changing and he will not be home in the evening's. This is a huge adjustment and so our menu is filled with very simple, quick dinners that make very little mess! This way i can make the necessary adjustments w/o being overwhelmed by a time consuming dinner menu! One more benefit of menu planning......i was able to cater the menu to my family's needs for the week!!!

Monday: Chicken Nuggets w/ mac-n-cheese & mixed veggies

Tuesday: Easy Chicken Parmesan (see recipe below)

Wednesday: Taquitos w/ corn & pinto beans

Thursday: Candied Sausage w/ rice & broccoli

Friday: Baked Potatoes

Saturday: Grilled burgers w/ baked beans & asparagus

Sunday: Take-out/leftovers

Like i said, this week's menu is far from inspiring and not even all that interesting, but it is just what i need for a week like this! And now i will share my dirty little secret for my easy chicken parm!!

Easy Chicken Parmesan

frozen breaded chicken patties

spaghetti noodles

jar of spaghetti sauce

shredded parmesan cheese

*cook chicken patties according to instructions on package

*boil spaghetti noodles and drain

*warm spaghetti sauce over med heat

*layer noodles, chicken, sauce and sprinkle w/ parmesan cheese!!

Ok...so maybe its not dirty and maybe not even really a secret but it is super EASY and the kids LOVE it!!

And as always there is lots of meal time fun to check out over at orgjunkie.com so head on over and be inspired!! Hope you all have a fabulous week!!

Brothers

2009-03-24T11:20:00.000-05:00

I can't think of anything that melts my heart like the friendship between these two handsome lil men that i am blessed to call my sons! I worried early on that because of the 4 year age difference that they wouldn't get along. And all of that worry for nothing. The love between these two stops me in my tracks sometimes. I love to stand back and watch them together when they aren't aware of my presence. The bond between them is unmistakable and wonderful. I am truly enjoying watching this irreplaceable love grow. My heart swells when i catch them in moments like

THIS.....

and THIS......

and THIS.....

They are buddies, pals, the best of friends. And i treasure the time i have to watch the bond between them grow. A bond that is truly remarkable! I believe Brayden says it best when he says "we are bestest brothers" and indeed they are!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-03-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

I am LOVING menu planning. It is amazing what a difference having such a seemingly minor decision already made for me each day can make!! We did make a minor adjustment to the menu....on saturday we were going to have company over which is why i had planned to make beef burgundy, but those plans changed. So we opted to have leftovers because we had so many and I am doing the beef burgundy this saturday when our friends come over!! Otherwise we stuck to the plan and it was fabulous!! So here is the Miculka Madness Meal Plan for this week.....

Monday: Western Mac

Tuesday: Homemade Pizza

Wednesday: Brown Sugar Chicken w/ rice and broccoli

Thursday: Candied Sausage w/ cous cous and mixed veggies

Friday: Grilled burgers w/ baked beans and corn on the cob

Saturday: Beef Burgundy over noodles

Sunday: take-out/leftovers

Don't forget to head over to orgjunkie.com for lots of meal time ideas and inspiration!! And just in case you are wondering....our family favorite of the new recipes we tried last week was the crock pot bbq chicken!!! It was FANTASTIC...easy and delish...a big hit with all of us!! What is your family's favorite meal?? I would love to hear about your family fave so please do share!!

Western Mac

2009-03-23T09:18:00.001-05:00

This is a casserole that my Mom made alot when i was growing up!! It was a family favorite then and has become one of my own little family's favorites as well!! It is so simple but soooo good!!

1 lb ground turkey (or beef)
1 onion chopped
1 box mac-n-cheese
1 can tomato paste
1 can corn ( i actually use the frozen steam packs!!)

Cook the meat and onion together until the meat is no longer pink.

Mix the tomato paste and 1 can of water w/ ground turkey.

Prepare the mac-n-cheese according to the box.

Mix meat mixture, mac-n-cheese and corn in a casserole dish.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

ENJOY!!

**if you use the steam pack of corn then steam it before mixing it in!!**

Could it be???

2009-03-18T13:10:00.000-05:00

Just thought i would share a picture that proves that these two are following in their momma's footsteps!! haha! Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!!

ps...check out my menu plan monday post below....i linked to recipes for cornbread casserole and beef burgundy!! I'm very much loving this menu planning business!!

I'm on a mission!

2009-03-16T09:42:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. Since making this move i have yet to really get into a daily routine. I mean we have our morning routine and that takes us up till we drop Colby off at school but then....there is no schedule or routine until bedtime. And it is driving me nuts! Before the move i had certain chores i did each day which made keeping up with the house cleaning easy. Now...not so much. I just kind of pick and choose something to do each day. I am craving that routine. That organization. So i am on a mission to get my mojo back!!

The first thing i have done is assigned chores for each day of the week! This way I will stay caught up without ever being overwhelmed! And it takes the guess work out of it....each day i will know exactly what needs to be done! So my weekly cleaning schedule is:

*Monday ~ Laundry

*Tuesday ~ Dusting, Vacuuming, & treat Colby's room (because of his allergies i have to deep clean and treat his room each week)

*Wednesday ~ Bathrooms

*Thursday ~ Mopping

*Friday ~ Laundry and i will rotate doing windows and cleaning cabinets

My kitchen is something i have to do each day because it will drive me crazy if i don't! So i sweep atleast once a day and clean countertops, stovetop, sink, etc. each day! I feel better already just having a plan! It will be so nice to have this routine back!

The other thing i am going to do starting this week is Menu Plan Mondays! I've seen other bloggers do this and it has caught my attention and then last week my bloggy buddy, Erin @ Haute Plates, started and it gave me the extra push to see what it is all about! Each week this fabulous trend is hosted by "I'm an Organizing Junkie"{click here to see what its all about} and hundreds of women share links to their menu plan for the next 7 nights!! So not only does it take the guess work out of the good old question "whats for dinner??" but there is an endless amount of inspiration and new ideas for meals! I'm going to attempt to post my family's menu plan for the week each Monday and throw in recipes from time to time as well!! Be sure to head over and soak up some meal time inspiration @ orgjunkie.com and if you decide to join in the fun let me know!!

And so here it is! The first Menu Plan here at Miculka Madness!!

Monday~ Tuna Casserole w/ bread and butter

Tuesday~ Spaghetti w/ garlic bread and salad

Wednesday~ Garlic Roasted Crock Pot Chicken /w brown rice and broccoli

Thursday~ Cornbread Casserole

Friday~ Crock Pot BBQ Chicken w/ Cornflake Cheesy Potatoes & Corn on the Cob

Saturday~ Beef Burgundy over pasta

Sunday~ leftovers or takeout!

I have linked to a few recipes i got from Erin @ Haute Plates and i will be posting a couple of other recipes i'm using this week soon!! I'm excited to be planning and working at getting my mojo back and sharing it with all of you! Don't forget to let me know if you decide to join in and be sure to check out all of Erin's recipes at Haute Plates!

Beef Burgundy

2009-03-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

At my bridal shower all of the guests brought a favorite recipe to get my recipe collection started! It was so fun and so many of those recipes are ones that i use regularly now!! This recipe is the one that my Meemi (my grandma) decided to give me at the shower. It is so dang good and i love making it when i have company coming over! Although there is alot of prep work it can all be done and cleaned up before guests arrive! And as an added bonus the house smells AMAZING when my guests arrive!

12 oz bacon, cut in squares
3 lbs round steak, cubed
1-2 lg carrots, sliced ( i usually use even more!)
1 med onion, chopped
3 tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 can beef broth
2 cups burgundy cooking wine
1 tbsp ketchup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
1/2 lb (or 1-8 oz can) mushrooms

In a dutch oven, cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pan.

Brown beef in bacon fat, and remove.

Saute the carrots and onion and take out.

Blend in flour and seasonings. Add broth.

Cook, stirring constantly until slightly thickened and smooth.

Add the wine, ketchup, garlic, thyme and bay leaves and stir well.

Now add the meats, carrots and onion to the pan.

Cover and place in preheated 375 degree oven for about 2 hours, or until meat is tender.

Add mushrooms during the last half hour.

Serve over rice, pasta or mashed potatoes and ENJOY!!! (i always serve it over pasta!)

Like i said.....there is alot of prep work involved but it is SOOOOOO worth it!!

Cornbread Casserole

2009-03-16T09:01:00.000-05:00

I found this recipe in a casserole cookbook that i'm sure i don't even have anymore but it quickly became a family fave!!

1 lb ground beef ( i use turkey)
1 sm onion
2-3 jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 pkgs (8 1/2 ounces each) corn bread/muffin mix
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 can cream style corn
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In lg skillet, cook the beef, onion, and peppers over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine the corn bread mix, salt, baking soda, corn, milk, oil and eggs.

Pour half of batter into a greased 9x13 baking dish. Layer with half of the cheese and all of the meat mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Spread remaining batter over the top.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. ENJOY!

Goin' for a Ride

2009-03-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

The last couple of weeks we have had a little boys dream in our garage! Our good friend, Seth, went out of town and we "babysat" his bike! The boys were beside themselves when they went in the garage and saw it!! I've never seen two kiddos so excited to sit on something.....i'm pretty sure they sat on the motorcycle atleast once a day the whole time it was here! Then on Sunday, Seth came to get the bike and took the boys each for a ride!! They could hardly contain their excitement! Selfishly i was hoping it would scare them and they wouldn't ever want to ride one again but of course that wasn't the case! They both LOVED it! Here are a couple pics of our little motorcycle fanatics!!

Of course they just went around the neighborhood so they didn't go very fast but i'm sure either of them would have happily gone faster! I do believe we have two lil men with NO FEAR of speed which makes the forecast for their teenage years just a little bit SCARY for me!! Thank goodness i have a few years before i have to face that fear!! As much as motorcycles scare me as a mom i loved how much fun they had!

Seth~thank you so much for being such a wonderful role model for these little guys of ours who adore you! They loved their ride on sunday and are looking forward to seeing you again soon!!

ps~just in case you're wondering....i do realize that i totally over use the exclamation mark!!!! =) i guess i'm just an excitable girl cause a period just doesn't do the sentence justice in my mind. haha!

Priceless

2009-03-06T08:55:00.001-06:00

Laughter. Lots and Lots of Laughter. Talking. Very Little Sleep. Junk Food. Fast Food. Sonic Limeaides. Lots of Sonic Limeaides. Memories Made. 5 Finger Discounts and Lost Cars. Shopping. More Laughter.

Sarah's visit was all of this and so much more. There just aren't words that can tell the story of what a blessing her visit was to me. God is so good and this time with Sarah was just the pick me up i needed. I laughed more in those 3 days than i have in months! It all started when i picked her up at the airport Saturday morning w/ starbucks in hand! We went strait to Target and then the mall. We sat at the food court for probably an hour just talking and enjoying each other's company. Then we went to Gap. I found a couple of shirts i wanted to try on so i held on to them while we chatted and looked around some more. And then we WALKED OUT. And walked ACROSS the mall before i even noticed that i still had those 2 shirts. HA! We almost peed ourselves laughing. And the best part was that NOBODY even said anything. Its not like they were hidden at all! We were just busy talking and catching up or maybe i'm just an airhead but either way it was HILARIOUS!! And of course we had to have a picture so here i am right before going back into Gap to actually try the shirts on!

After the mall we landed back at the casa for a pit stop and so that Sarah could say hi to the boys and John! We relaxed for a few hours and then headed to Kohls. Let me start by telling you that the parking lot was EMPTY when we parked. So we shopped and then we walked out to leave and the car was NO WHERE to be found in that empty parking lot. And what do any sensible chicks do when they realize the car seriously is NOT there??? We laughed. UNCONTROLLABLY!! And about the time we realized that we might actually have to call the police because the car was GONE....Sarah looked over and realized that we were on the wrong side of the parking lot. And then?? We really lost it laughing. I would have loved to be a spectator watching all of this take place. I don't think i will EVER be able to look back on either of those memories w/o giggling. Laughter truly is the BEST medicine!

On sunday morning we were blessed to share in hearing a wonderfully challenging and relevant message at church followed by lunch out with the whole family. Then we headed to the beach for some family pictures. I don't know if i've ever mentioned it but Sarah is a photographer! So even though the weather didn't exactly cooperate we figured we would give it a try. It was windy and relentlessly sunny which made for ALOT of shots with hair in someone's face or someone squinting! But we managed to get a few good shots and we had alot of fun! That evening we talked and watched tv and pretty much got lost in the world that is the couch!!

Monday brought lots of relaxing and running a few errands. And of course too much time spent on the internet over analyzing bachelor clips and looking forward to the finale!! After a trip to the store for a junk food refill, sonic for what had to have been the 6th or 7th time in 3 days, showers and getting in our jammies we settled in for the 3 hr Bachelor marathon. And then another hour of talking about it and analyzing it before we decided we better get some sleep before that 4:30 am alarm went off to get Sarah to the airport!

Sarah~ thank you so much for coming! Our friendship is truly priceless and i am so incredibly grateful for those 3 days of memories made. Thank you for who you are-for your forever selflessness and love. I'm so incredibly blessed to have you in my life, near or far! Should we buy lottery tickets and hope for a win so we can be together for the bachelorette finale?? Ha!! Countdown to Times Square has begun so you better be good!!

"A friend is one who strengthens you with prayers, blesses you with love and encourages you with hope."

Disgusted

2009-03-03T08:56:00.000-06:00

That title pretty much says all there is to say about how i feel after watching last nights Bachelor events unfold. I dont even know where to start but i guess i will begin with a few thoughts about the finale and then dig into the ATFR special.

The finale was actually good. Even though i knew he was going to choose Melissa it was still enjoyable to watch it unfold. The Deanna bit was all for show and really awkward....a total letdown but whatever! Even after last night's finale i just didn't see it with Molly. Were they attracted to each other? Absolutely. But was there much beyond that?? If there was than the producers did a fabulous job of not showing it. I thought the proposal was really sweet and it was fun to watch them all together afterwards. I just really wish that it would have all ended with that!

But it didn't. And the after the final rose was sickening. Do i believe that the whole thing was scripted?? No. I truly don't. I think it was all just Jason changing his mind. With that said there is absolutely NO reason to do something like that on tv. He completely disrespected Melissa and i lost all respect for him. He could have easily done that in private and they could have done a special where they spoke to them separately and presented the information. Melissa deserves better than someone who would do that to her. My own personal feeling is that Jason didn't even give his and Melissa's relationship a fair chance. He jumped ship the second it got hard and i'm so glad that Melissa called him on that. Of course you still have feelings for Molly.....that doesn't go away over night and when you are watching the show over and reliving that over again i can see where it would be hard to not think about her. BUT that doesn't mean you throw in the towel and go running back. And then there is the whole next part with Molly. I don't believe for one second that he had not been talking to Molly. She put on a horrible surprised act. She wasn't very surprised at all.....and she sure changed gears from utter shock to playing tonsil hockey pretty quickly. The only other thing i am going to say (because i might just go off and say some really ugly things if i don't just cut this off!) is that i dont see it with Molly. I will not be the least bit surprised to hear of their break up. Maybe tonight's 2nd part of the after the final rose will sway that thinking but i'm doubtful.

To sum it up i'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that ABC thought it acceptable to allow that kind of humiliation for Melissa on national television. Did she sign on for a reality tv show? Yes. That does not mean they had to handle the situation the way they did. And most of all i'm disappointed that Jason just isn't the sweet, sensitive dad they made him out to be. There was nothing sensitive AT ALL about the way things were handled. While maybe he can't help the way he feels he CAN control how those feelings are played out.

What are everyone else's thoughts?? Shocked? Ok with it? Not so ok with it?? What are you thinking???? If the rumors are again true tonight, then they will be announcing that Jillian is the next bachelorette! Will you be tuning in for that if its true?? I'm gonna miss the tuesday bach chats!! Can't wait to hear what everyone is thinking!

ps...Sarah is on her way back to seattle. =( What a blessing this weekend w/her was....i will be posting about it soon!

Mission Complete!

2009-02-26T08:54:00.000-06:00

In honor of the fact that we are FINALLY done unpacking, i thought i would share some pictures of my two favorite little people and the fun they had with ALL the boxes around here that first couple of weeks after moving in!

They built ALOT of forts made entirely of packing paper and boxes! Here is one of them...

And of course....what are two BOYS going to do with that fort when done playing in it?? DESTROY it!!

And another favorite was to play made up games inside HUGE empty wardrobe boxes!! Here they are in one of their "secret" spots!

They really did make the best of being stuck in the house with stuff EVERYWHERE and parents who were doing their best to juggle unpacking and trying to get into a routine while still being parents!! Now if only i could make the broken down boxes magically disappear from the garage....... ;)

A lot of laughs!

2009-02-24T06:32:00.000-06:00

I don't know about anybody else but last night's Women Tell All had me cracking up!!! It was fun to see Trista and Ryan as always....little Max is getting big and sure is a cutie! Charlie and Sara were cute i guess. I thought Jason handled himself well for the little bit of time he actually spent "facing the girls"! Jillian looked GORGEOUS and what class that girl has! It would be fun to see her as the next Bachelorette!

One of my favorite parts of the show was when Chris Harrison was interviewing Jason....i thought he asked some good questions and Jason just seems so real that it reminded me that all the theories and talk on the web are just that.....theories! I refuse this week, to get caught up in it.....i will see what happens next week at the finale! And until then i will choose to stay in my little bubble of hope that all the hoopla is way wrong! But i did catch one thing in the preview for the after the final rose ceremony that i missed last week and that is...Chris Harrison said that what was happening was potentially emotionally hurtful. That one word opens a window in my mind for it to all be a normal bachelor type of ending and not some huge scandalous deal! Everything about this show is potentially emotionally hurtful!

And now onto my favorite crack me up moments of the night!

~Jason on the horse. SERIOUSLY! I had tears coming down my face i was laughing so hard! And i laughed every time they showed it! Why so funny you ask?? Truly i don't know...but i think alot of it is that its supposed to be this romantic scene and it goes so wrong and then his reaction only added to the humor! So funny!

~When Chris Harrison was interviewing Natalie....there was so much there that i could list but the one that cracked hubby and me up the most went a little something like this....]
natalie~like i didn't have my blackberry and my blackberry is like my life. and i didn't have my ipod......
chris~so we took away all of your superficial things....
natalie~whoa chris, you need to settle down
WHAT??? hahahahahaha......we cracked up! She just didn't have a leg to stand on! But her reaction was certainly comical!

~and last but certainly not least is hubby's favorite crack me up quote of the night! This one came from Charlie during his and Sara's interview....
"she said the drinking was 99% of the problem so i'm pretty much 99% perfect"
Hubby was cracking up, i was cracking up....Great line Charlie! Makes sense to me if thinking from a simple minded manly perspective. These men folk are funny creatures i tell ya!!

So now we wait! What is going through everyone's mind?? Is it going to be a shocker or is it going to be a good ole bachelor ending?? Only 4 more days till Sarah is here!!!!!! I am so excited and so glad i atleast have something besides tv to look forward to this week! =) So everyone weigh in....what are your thoughts after last nights Women Tell All??!!

Mug Cake

2009-02-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

My mother in law sent an email a few days ago titled the most dangerous cake in the world. Well darn....i've gotta check this out! Oh my goodness! It looked like fun to me.....a chocolate cake in 5 minutes. Thats right! A chocolate cake ready to eat in 5 minutes. So we decided to try it out with the boys last night! Here is the recipe and a few pictures.....

4 tbsp flour

4 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

1 egg

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp oil

3 tbsp choc. chips(optional)

a sm. splash of vanilla extract

1 lg. coffee mug

*put the dry ingredients in the mug and mix well

*add the egg and mix

*pour in milk & oil and mix well

*add choc. chips (if using) and vanilla & mix again

*put mug in microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high

~the cake will rise over the top of the mug so don't be alarmed!

*allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired

*EAT and ENJOY!!!

The email made it seem that this was supposed to make a single serving but hubby and i agreed that there is no way we could eat that whole thing by our self! The boys shared one and we shared one! We also used reese's peanut butter chips which were good in it!! Its certainly not anything gourmet but its quick (kept the 3 yr olds attention), easy (the boys were able to pretty much make it on their own w/ a little supervision!), and fun! A couple of added benefits are that there is a limited amount of cake so you get your sweet fill but there aren't lots of leftovers to tempt you for days afterwards, and there is very little mess for mommy to clean up!!

Dinner and a Show

2009-02-20T08:04:00.000-06:00

Erin, over at Bringing Up Burns, (who by the way is fabulous...seriously....if you haven't checked out her blog your missing out!) has a second blog called Haute Plates. There are recipes for all kinds of things and pictures to go along! On Wednesday night i made her teryiaki sauce and it was amazing! A big hit with the hubby and with the boys which isn't always easy to pull off!! We had it with chicken, rice, and broccoli~YUMMO!! Of course i forgot to take pictures of it but trust me....it was delicious!

After dinner, hubby and I were treated to a puppet show put on by our very own in house puppeteers!! To be completely honest i couldn't tell you the whole story line, which is bad...i know, but i couldn't help but get caught up in how cute they were! Seriously. The cutest little puppeteers EVER! Apparently Colby's class at school had done a puppet show that day and they got to make their own frog and toad "puppets" to bring home. So Colby was sweet enough to take the time to teach Brayden a few parts and include him. They were so excited to put on the show for us and we were just as excited to enjoy it! They did such a great job! It truly was a wonderful evening.... a great dinner and an even better show!!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! We are going to be busy trying to finish up a few projects around the house and get the guest bedroom (which is like a storage unit right now!) all ready for Sarah next weekend!!!! Anybody have any big plans for this weekend? What are all of you going to be up to??

I'm so excited.....

2009-02-18T06:45:00.000-06:00

....and i just can't hide it!!!!

Oh.My.Goodness. Ya'll! One of my bestest girlfriends from Washington is coming to see me!!!!!! I CANNOT wait! And not only is she coming to see me but the icing on the cake is that she will be here for the Bachelor finale!! I so wanna cyber scream right now....i am just soooo excited!!!

Sarah is that friend. You know...the one that gets you on every level. The one you know you can call day, night, or inbetween and she will be there. Regardless of what is going on in her world she will be there. I have learned so much from our friendship~she truly makes me strive to be a better wife, mom and friend. And i miss her more than any words here could ever show. God is amazing and and i'm so grateful that this opportunity has presented itself. This visit couldn't come at a better time and it is just the pick me up i needed right now! She will be here for 3 whole days.......3 whole days of hanging out, girly talks, laughter and FUN!!!! Let the countdown begin!!!!!

Shock.

2009-02-17T06:16:00.000-06:00

Wow. I am in a little bit of shock over last night's Bachelor episode! For the most part i have been pretty good at predicting how things would go, who he would send home, etc. Last night...i was soooo wrong and in shock at the end! I really, truly thought it would come down to Jillian and Melissa in the end. Jillian is such a sweetheart~she's gorgeous, fun, outgoing, comes from a great family and so much more. Anyway....here are my thoughts on each date......

*Jillian's date with him could have been so romantic. It seemed like they had fun but deep down i think i kind of sensed that maybe something wasn't quite right. All the "friend" talk sent up a little red flag but i still didn't see that ending coming. She looked AMAZING at the rose ceremony and it broke my heart to see the hurt in her eyes.

*Molly's date was good. The bungee jumping was CRAZY.....i really don't think i could do that but it seemed like they had a good time doing it! And her list of questions was fun but i still just don't see it with them. Hubby hasn't really been consistently watching and even he looked up from the laptop during Jason and Molly's dinner and commented on how it just seemed like there was awkward friction there. When she was trying to tell him how she felt it seemed to me like she was trying to convince herself as much as him. Anybody else feel that way??

*And then there is Melissa. Their date was great as always. The chemistry between them is easy....its just there and i never feel like either of them is having to force it or work at it. I was glad to see them atleast talk about the parent subject again....thats such a tough one but i agree with Jason that he's not marrying a girl's parents and truly there's nothing they could say or do to change how he feels about Melissa. I'm definitely hoping it will be Melissa in the end!

Now....lets get to the really good stuff. The first shocker was him choosing Molly over Jillian. Even after the dates i felt like there was just more there with Jill than with Molly so i really didn't see that one coming. And then there was the previews of the finale. The whole Deanna thing is just getting irritating.....but i'm ready to see what in the world she is doing there. She didn't seem very emotional so i'm still holding out hope that she isn't there trying to win him back...we'll see. But what about the previews for the after the final rose??!! Isn't that usually taped live?? And what is "so emotionally hurtful" that they have to keep it as private and intimate as possible?? Did the happy couple already split? But that has happened before and they didn't make all that fuss about it. Any ideas?? What do you ladies think is going on here??? This 2 week wait is going to just about kill me but the Women Tell All should be fun next week!! Can't wait to hear all of your thoughts on last night!!

This + This

2009-02-14T09:38:00.000-06:00

Roses randomly received days before V day

the cutest gift from Colby

the love of these two little men

the best hubby a girl could ask for

=

A VERY HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

May each of you have a day full of love and everything special in your lives today! Let today be the beginning of a year full of cherishing the ones you love and thanking God for all the love in your life!! Happy Valentines Day!

Aubrey Needs

2009-02-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

Saw this on facebook this morning and got a good laugh so i thought i'd share it with all of you! So the directions are simple....google "your name needs" and see what comes up!! Ha! Too funny. Or maybe i'm just easily amused but anyway...here is what aubrey needs!

*Aubrey needs to knock it off!*
how in the world did they guess?? And no i will not share what it is that i need to knock off but
it just might have to do with a little reality tv addiction.....

*Aubrey needs help*
ha! in oh so many ways!

*Aubrey needs to stop referring to herself as pretty in every single episode.....*
they must be confused....this yoga pant, t shirt, pony tail wearing chica is hardly over using the
term pretty when referring to herself!

So go check out just what it is you need!! ;) And laugh....alot...cause it just feels good to!!

Hometown Dates

2009-02-10T06:29:00.000-06:00

Well well...last nights episode surely did not disappoint! Have i mentioned lately that i love this show?!? Cause i do! And this is where is starts to get hard. Why? Well because, you all know i love Mel! But early on i was really really liking Jillian and after last night i'm torn. I really like both of them. So whichever one of them he chooses I will be soooo happy for but my heart will break for the other one! But anyway....my thoughts on each of the dates!

Jillian~ Loved her family and loved their story of sticking together when the going gets tough. I think she has a true understanding of "for better or worse" and is really committed to finding the one! Her family was a hoot and hands down i think he got along with her family the best! If his decision was based solely on family than ladies, there would be no question about who his lucky lady is in the end! My favorite from Jill's family was the Canadian boxers...sooo funny!

Molly~ Like i said last week there is just something missing there. Its actually starting to drive me NUTS cause i can't quite put my finger on it. And i still felt that way last night. Her family was nice. Her mom seems like alot of fun.....quirky but fun! The hat thing was kind of awkward but not as bad as it could have been! The picture thing was funny......we all learned art is not his strong point but he did alot better than i could have! I was cracking up and i love that he just goes with the flow and has fun doing it! I think Molly gets her lack of emotion from her dad for sure! And maybe thats part of what is missing there....uugghh...i just don't know. I want to like the two of them together but i just don't see it. I love Molly but just don't think she's the one for Jason.

Naomi~ Oh my. Where to even start?! The hula hoop thing was hilarious. Loved that but then it all went down hill from there! Dead dove. Need i say more??? STRANGE. Awkward. Was that woman serious?!? Her Mom was a little out there and again i have to say that i love Jason's facial expressions...much like me...he cannot hide what he is thinking! The time he spent talking to her Mom was probably the most awkward moment of this entire show. And then could her mom and dad be any more opposite? The conversations there were polar opposites. The whole date was just awkward. And last but not least...

Melissa~ My heart was breaking for her. Thats a tough one! Jason is certainly old fashioned in that he will have a really hard time proposing without meeting her parents. But i do think that the time spent with her friends was about the next best thing. I think that he atleast got a window into who she is so it wasn't a total loss. Her friends all seemed really sweet and he seemed to get along well with all of them! I still really like her and feel like when it comes down to it he will pick whoever he is in love with. And if thats Mel than he will still choose her. And i hope it is Mel, but we will see! And i have to say that the tooth fairy box with the money's was tooooo cute! And i think it really showed how much she cares for not just Jason, but for Ty as well!

All in all i think it was a great episode! I was not at all surprised by his choice to say goodbye to Naomi. She is super sweet but i don't think she completely grasped what a life with him would mean and i think he was right to want to not "clip her wings" as he put it.

New Zealand for the overnight dates.....should be fun! And i have to admit that all this time i've been secretly hoping that Deanna was coming back like as a friend to him (yes i know its a stretch but darn it i didn't want to think any less of her) but after last nights previews i do not think that is the case. If she is coming back to try to win him back i'm going to lose all respect for her. She knows how much emotion is involved at this point in the process and to jump into the mix at this point is just wrong! Dang! Is it monday yet?? I've got to know what this is all about!

I really don't know how next week will go......if i had to choose who the final two will be i think i would say Melissa and Jillian but i'm not 100% confident with that! What about you?? Who do you think it will be and why?? Can't wait to see who's right!!

25 Random Things

2009-02-08T20:22:00.000-06:00

So i have been tagged several times on facebook and have seen a couple of bloggy friends do this meme on their blogs so i caved and gave it a try! It has been more difficult than i imagined it would be to come up with 25 random things about me ~ i really don't give myself that much thought very often i suppose. Anyhow~here it goes~ 25 random things about yours truly!

*1. I *heart* willow tree angels and figurines!

*2. I'm slightly ocd - my hubby may disagree w/ the slightly part....

*3. I'm a BIG time smell person - my first instinct when i pick something up is to smell it

*4. I LOVE circle e candles - L.O.V.E. them!

*5. I have, in recent years, become chronically indecisive. I can't stand this about myself but haven't the slightest idea how to change it.

*6. I grew up in the country and one of the biggest things i learned is that country life is not for me!

*7. I don't iron clothes. EVER. When i try it makes more wrinkles. God is so good to me~there is a wrinkle release cycle on our dryer.

*8. I love music~country, alternative, hip hop, oldies, praise and worship~it just has a special way of lifting my spirits

*9. I have incredibly THICK hair. Even hair stylists tell me i have too much. I pretty much have a hate relationship w/ my hair.

*10. I don't do ocean swimming. NO WAY! There is too many things in there that can hurt you and i am convinced its not meant to be swam in.

*11. I have a cricket phobia - think heart racing, beads of sweat, tears - yeah. that kind of phobia. I want to ask God what a cricket's purpose is.

*12. I don't eat meat off the bone. My husband doesn't get it but there is just something bothersome about it for me. I just can't make myself do it.

*13. Driving in tunnels and flying on airplanes = nightmares for me. Not even quite sure what it is about either of them that freaks me out. It just does.

*14. I'm a reality tv slut and not a bit ashamed of it! I love it! And i'm gonna throw a shout out to my girl Erin~she gets it! ;)

*15. I'm a control freak. this is a bad thing. A bad bad thing indeed.

*16. I love to read. My two all time favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks and Karen Kingsbury. I've yet to find a book by either of them that has disappointed.

*17. When i drive by street lights they often go out. Its spooky and strange.

*18. I have just a tiny little addiction to pogo! Yes i have the membership and yes i realize i'm a nerd!

*19. I love word finds but can't stand crossword puzzles. Crossword puzzles are like torture for me.

*20. I'm an air force brat and swore i would never marry a man in the military! Ha! I'm pretty sure God got a good chuckle in on my wedding day! =)

*21. I played tennis and was on on dance team in high school. Please don't ask me to dance or pick up a racket now. It would either be scary or fantastic entertainment at my expense!!

*22. My first job was at Chick fil a! Heavenly i tell ya~amazing food fo' free!

*23. I rarely stay awake during a movie and it drives me CRAZY! I usually end up taking several days to watch a whole movie....soooo annoying!

*24. In high school, me and a girlfriend once stayed up ALL night watching Grease over and over and memorizing all the words to each song. Hey~didn't i already tell you what a nerd i am!

*25. I broke my jaw my senior year of high school in a fence jumping incident gone wrong. I have some pretty rad hardware holding it all together now and its only a matter of time before arthritis sets in. Something to look forward to huh?!

So there ya have it! Way more random junk about me than you probably ever really wanted to know! But i'm dying to know....did anything really surprise you?? make you laugh?? Please do share.....i'd love to know which one of these factoids stood out the most to you!!

Are You Up for a Challenge?!?

2009-02-07T17:13:00.000-06:00

My amazingly wonderful friend, Erin, over at Bringing Up Burns has cooked up a challenge that i believe so many of us can benefit from!! Its called Date your Mate! Doesn't that name even sound fun?!? This couldn't come at a better time for me! With our 5th anniversary coming this year, I wish i could say that things are just as spicy and fun as they were in the beginning, but that just isn't the case. Somewhere between diapers, cleaning, 3 big moves, and deployments, the romance and "dating" in our relationship has been pushed to the bottom of the priority list. But not for long! Go on over and read all about the challenge here and join in the fun! While it won't always to be easy to "fit" something else in, i have no doubt it will be totally worth it!!

One Month

2009-02-05T17:59:00.000-06:00

Today marks one month since we met the movers at the door of our new home! I can't quite decide if it has flown by or crawled. And i'm sure that makes absolutely no sense to anybody but me but it does make sense to me in a weird sort of way. Its been a hard month of trials and challenges but a month of triumphs and joy in watching my little family pull together and be everything a family should be. A month of watching my hubby take on new responsibilities and step further out of his comfort zone than i've ever seen and do a fabulous job at it! Proud doesn't even begin to describe how i feel. He is amazing! A month of heartache as i have watched my first born struggle to adjust and to make friends and to catch up in school. I have prayed more for that little boy the last month than i have his entire life put together and those prayers have so graciously been answered. I have watched "my baby" overcome and grow in so many ways through the trials he has faced and he is doing so very well. It is an ongoing process but his faith is growing as he watches answers to prayer unfold. What an amazing blessing this is as a mommy~to watch God work in your child's life and to watch his faith grow! And while Brayden hasn't struggled in the ways that the rest of us have he has been right there all along bringing more joy and laughter to our family than you can imagine! While things haven't happened the way i had envisioned, God is good. Above all else He has provided and i know without a doubt that He has been and will continue to be right here with us through it all. I am so blessed and so very grateful. Tonight as i take time to reflect on the last month, my heart is overflowing with love for my Savior and all He has done for me. I'm so undeserving and yet His love for me is so great! And now i will leave you with a verse that has spoken to me so much lately......

John 16:33

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

These words have brought me so much comfort this last month! Take heart...He has overcome the world. What an awesome God we serve!!

Sleepless in Pensacola....

2009-02-04T06:47:00.000-06:00

....and there ain't nothin' romantic about it!!! ha! Hubby started working an extremely awkward shift this week so he doesn't get home until about 1:30am. I'm refusing to complain about this one bit because after so many deployments i'm beyond thankful that he comes home at all! However, it doesn't mean i like it! I don't sleep well when he isn't home. Why is it that every little noise is SOOOO much louder when he's not there??? So last night i watched my dvr'ed Biggest Loser (oh my goodness is anyone else watching this??), read some of my book and finally started to get sleepy around 11:15 so i turned of the lamp and layed there. And layed there. Again, why is it that i couldn't keep my eyes open when i was distracted but turn the light off and lay there trying to go to sleep and it ain't happenin'?!? Finally i remember looking at the clock and it said 11:43 and then i wake up to Colby in our room scared because "something was pulling him in his bed". What? It was 12. Awesome 17 minute nap that was. Off to pray with Colby and try to get him settled again. Back in bed at 12:20 to start the whole laying there trying to get to sleep again routine. 1:15am and the Hubs walks in the door. Alarm system (which is great most of the time but not last night!) does its thing and it goes a little something like this....BEEP BEEP BEEP FRONT DOOR. Like really loud. Normally not an issue because i close the laundry room door before going to bed so that it won't wake the boys. Forgot to close the door. Brayden wakes up calling for Daddy. Wonderful. Go get Brayden settled back down while hubby is getting ready for bed. 1:30 i finally fall back into bed and have hubs check to make sure alarm is set for 5:45. It was close to 2 before i fell asleep. I am SOOO TIRED! But excited because i think we are going to Lowe's when hubby wakes up to get mulch and stuff for the front landscaping that looks so pitiful!! Here's to getting a good night's sleep tonight!!

ps...i totally look that awesome when i'm laying in bed sleepless! yeah..i really do! ;)

Who will it be?!?

2009-02-03T06:36:00.000-06:00

Well ladies! The Bachelor last night was a bit different without all of the drama and such but different in a good kind of way! I can easily say this is the first season that while i do have a favorite and i really hope it is her in the end, the other girls are great and i won't be completely disappointed if he chooses any of them!

I don't think it is any secret at this point that my favorite is Mel! I just think she is so stinkin' sweet and real and their connection is amazing. Its not just attraction and its not just friendship but seems to be such a great balance of the two. I love that he changed the date so that he could be home to put Ty to bed! It really says alot about his priorities and I love it. And I love that Melissa was so ok with it and had a great time just being real! And then there was the previews for next week.....my heart broke! Not meeting her parents is a pretty big deal but at the same time i really hope it doesn't change things. *sigh* I *heart* Jason and Mel together!!

Naomi's date was great and they really seemed to grow closer but i really really don't think she is ready for everything a marriage to Jason would mean. She is such a sweetheart but I think he has very valid concerns there. And the previews of next week...ummmm....strange. Looking forward to seeing what that was all about!

Molly and him seem to continue to grow closer and i do see a definite attraction there without a doubt! It just seems to me like there is something missing and i can't even explain myself further. She is adorable, sweet, fun, outgoing, laid back....I have nothing bad to say about her. I just can't quite figure out what it is that isn't there.

And then there is Jillian. I really really liked Jillian for him early on. But it seems lately that she is really struggling with her feelings and the whole process on the show, which is understandable, but it is affecting the growth of their relationship. And i do question if she is really ready for what his life holds. She is very mature...that certainly isn't the issue but I just don't know that she is ready to jump into being a wife and step mommy. I think she is very ready for marriage but I don't know that she is ready for the slightly less than glamorous life that comes along with mommyhood sometimes. We shall see!

And last but certainly not least, Stephanie. What an amazing woman she is! I have absolutely nothing negative to say about her. She is giving, kind, loving, and truly beautiful on the inside and out but it just wasn't there. That was a pretty emotional rose ceremony and understandably so! I don't think any of them are going to be any easier! He has 4 great girls. He's got a tough decision on his hands but if anybody can handle the situation with poise and sensitivity he certainly can!

If i had to guess based on what i saw last night than my guess would be Naomi will go home next week but who knows! I am trying so hard to keep in mind that abc is only showing us what they want to and so you never know! Its down to the nitty gritty and i'm lovin' it! Can't wait to see the hometown dates next week!!

So weigh in everyone! Who is your favorite?? Who do you want it to be in the end?? Can't wait to hear everyone's thoughts this week!

**ps...I am loving how great the remaining girls all get along this season! It really seems like they are all friends and truly care about each other even though they are all falling for the same guy! Its refreshing after all the drama this season!!

Happy Rainy Day

2009-02-02T13:09:00.000-06:00

Just a quick peek into another sunny florida day.....

Ha! Or not! It's raining and dreary and yucky outside. (and yes i realize that landscaping looks horrible-its an upcoming project) I'm beginning to wonder how in the world i learned to function when this was my everyday for months on end in Washington. I'm tired and then add this weather into the mix and i'm just not motivated at all. I went grocery shopping this morning and it took everything in me to make myself do it. Seriously. I even sat in the car in the parking lot for a few minutes contemplating just going back home. haha....that's pretty bad! And then here is the best part of my day thus far~ picture this...I'm sitting here reading blogs and listening to the rain hit the pavement. Hubby and Brayden are snoring in Brayden's room down the hall. (hubby starts a new work schedule today so he is trying to get a lil sleep before his late night) I am fighting the urge to go lay down on the couch and find some sappy lifetime movie to get lost in, knowing that i will end up asleep. And then i decide that i am not giving into this unmotivation....i am going to sweat some calories away with the wii fit. Off i go to get it all set up and i realize that the controller i need is no where to be found. Hahaha!!! Of course this would happen! I've looked everywhere. I must wait till Colby gets home from school to find out where he might have hidden it. And perhaps my biggest achievement of the whole day is that i am choosing to find this hilarious when i would usually be frustrated. Rainy weather~you will not get me down today! Missing wii controller~ you're not gettin' to me either! I'm choosing to be happy and to not let these circumstances get to me. This is a semi New Years resolution if you want to call it that. This is something that doesn't come easy for me. I very easily get sucked into circumstances and let them rule my emotions. But not for long.....i've made it my goal to be more intentionally aware of this and to deny circumstance that power! I've got a long way to go and it is far from easy, but today is a small victory for me~on a day that i would have typically thrown in the towel and said forget it i am refusing to do that! So here's to a happy rest of this rainy day!

And lets not forget what's on tonight!! I've got a hot date with the Bachelor tonight! Do you??

Success!

2009-01-30T06:53:00.000-06:00

Since i have posted now about how frustrating potty training can be i have to share the exciting news that it is safe to say Brayden is potty trained!!!!! He hasn't even had an accident since Monday and then it was just 1! He does still wear a pull up at night but that is ok with me. I know that will come! He is such a big boy and had alot of fun on his special trip to the store to pick undies!! He chose super heroes and cars! So cute....i love to see his little tush in big boy undies! We are so proud of him and will now be looking into preschools for him to start in the fall, which he is very excited about. A lady in one of my bible studies once told me "never judge a situation when you're in the middle of it" and what wise advice it is! While there are indeed some frustrating parts of potty training, when looking back i see that it really wasn't that bad! 2 days of him testing the limits and peeing himself and pushing on anyway and that was it!! What a big boy we have on our hands now!!! =)

My Oh My

2009-01-27T07:11:00.000-06:00

And the drama continues on another episode of the Bachelor! I don't know about you guys but i got some really good laughs last night! Drama, laughing, a lil fallin' in love......just my kinda tv! So where to begin....

The singing competition was great. Most of the songs were silly and fun and i thought they did a good job of just going with the flow! Megan w/ her "there will be baby makin', i'm sure i won't be fakin'".....ummm...are you serious? Tacky! Thought Nikki did ok for being so not into it but a song for your future baby? I'm pretty sure the show is about him, and you and him, not about the future babies you may or may not have.

The one on one date w/ Molly. I saw the previews so i knew she spent the night but it still kinda surprises me. The date went well but i think they could have done without the sound effects after they went into the tent. Ya know what i mean? I think Molly will probably be going on a home town date.

The group date was...well....drama. And lots of it! Shannon was awkward as always and the whole picking her nose and then handing him the snot rag was gross. Like i cringed for him. And then the kiss.....and the napkin on her face. The whole thing was just not good. At all. Megan's kiss was odd....it didn't even seem passionate...it just looked like she was attacking him. I felt bad for Melissa and Naomi because they have genuine connections with him and it had to be hard to watch all of the kissing. Not such a great date idea but it made for dramatic tv!

The 2 on 1 date is always hard to watch. It's just got to be hard to have that pressure knowing that one of them is going home. I think he made the right decision but I still just don't see the romantic connection w/ Stephanie. I think they connect in alot of ways and it seems to me like he really really wants there to be more of a romantic connection but it just isn't there. Maybe the network is hiding alot so it just seems that way but i just don't see it.

I'm not surprised at all that he didn't give out the final rose and i think it was a great choice. The 5 that are left are great girls but i do have to say that i am partial to Melissa aka Mel. (so cute that he calls her Mel!) They just fit and have from the beginning. I'm torn on what will happen next week...who do you guys think will be the one to go home and why? Who will the hometown dates be with?? Can't wait to hear what ya'll are thinking!

I Kandoo this!

2009-01-26T18:26:00.000-06:00

I'm just going to be really honest here and put it out there that in my opinion potty training is the single most FRUSTRATING part of parenting. I loathe it and it exhausts me because i can't have a loathing attitude and expect success ya know?!?

So as of my last post (on saturday morning) Brayden was doing GREAT! But then like not even 30 minutes after i posted he peed all over the kitchen floor. Ok...an accident here and there is to be expected....no biggie. Accept then every time he peed on saturday he did it on either the kitchen floor or the BATHROOM FLOOR. Yes. You read that right. On the bathroom floor and when asked if he was trying to make it to the potty he smiled ever so sweetly and said "nope". AAAAHHHHH. I wanted to scream but i kept my cool. Tomorrow will be better i told myself. And it was slightly better but he still had multiple accidents. Starting to get frustrated but holding it together. And then today it was like he was back to his old self and he went on the potty every single time. Until Daddy came home from work and then he peed his pants. I'm noticing now that when Daddy is at work he does awesome with the potty. When Daddy is home...not so much. Can't say for sure yet if this is a true pattern...time will tell. But what i do know is that i'm thankful that i made him continue to wear undies through the weekend even though he had accident after accident. It took a little courage....we tried a new church on sunday and we were very tempted to send him to sunday school in a pull up but we stuck to the undies and he did great! I spent a couple hours in Colby's classroom today and Brayden came along. It was very tempting again to put him in a pull up "just in case". But i stuck to the undies and he did great. So all in all i think we are doing ok......its just so darn frustrating. But this too shall pass and in my glass half full kinda mindset i'm going to say that a week from now i'll be telling you all about how pull ups are a thing of the past and we can safely say he is potty trained! Even with all of the accidents i think we are definitely making progress.

And for now i am going to sign off as i need to get the boys settled and tucked into bed, make a cup of hot tea and get comfy for The Bachelor!!!!!! Oh my goodness....my thoughts on tonight's episode tomorrow morning! Oh yeah...and all of you west coast chica's...don't be too jealous...it comes on here in about 20 minutes. And in like 2 or 3 hrs for you ladies. Not that i'm rubbing it in or anything but it is a pretty fantastic perk of living on the eastern side of the good ole US of A!! ;)

Potty Update!

2009-01-24T08:31:00.000-06:00

I couldn't be prouder of my little man!!!! He wore his "supermans" aka big boy undies ALL day yesterday w/ NO accidents!!!!! He did so well! We even ventured out to the mall and did some shopping and he told us when he had to go. (yes i was a little unsure of going out on day 1 of such a huge transition but figured if he has an accident we'll change him. Right?!?) But he didn't! Oh i am so excited you don't even know! I guess i do have to say that he had an accident while he was down for his nap but i'm not too concerned with the "while sleeping" issue for now. He slept in a pull up last night but put his undies on again when he woke up this morning!!! If he continues today with no accidents we told him we would take him to the store tonight and let him pick new undies!! I think this may be it....like this may really be it! And if he does good all week i'm thinking we will have a little potty party for him next weekend! This was such a struggle the last time we tried and i finally just decided to let go of it and that when we got all settled here i would think about trying again, so this is such a huge blessing that he is doing this on his own! Keep your fingers crossed for us and i'll keep everyone updated!!!

Please say it isn't a Dream.....

2009-01-23T06:41:00.001-06:00

So last night John and I were hanging out in the office talking and in comes Brayden. With the entire contents of his big boy underwear drawer. You know...the one we haven't used in like FOREVER because last time we tried it was a nightmare. You can read about it here. So, anyway...for the first time in MONTHS he actually showed interest in the big boy underwear again. He knows that he can't go to school until he goes potty on the toilet. He knows that he can't play baseball, or soccer, or any other sport until he goes on the toilet. He just hasn't cared. And we have tried hard to encourage but not pressure him. Its a fine line that's difficult to navigate at times but we are trying. Well last night when he suddenly showed this renewed interest i asked him if he would like to wear the big boy underwear today and he said yes. So he is. He is in big boy underwear. And we let him pick his clothes and explained that if he goes potty in his underwear it will get all over his "rockstar" shirt and his pants he chose. So we'll see! Maybe this is it! I'm cautiously excited....i don't want to get too excited to avoid being hugely disappointed but i'm indeed hopeful! Please pray for me. Pray that i will have patience, that He will give me wisdom and endless encouragement for my little man so that i can help him to succeed. I'll update tonight and let ya know how it goes!! For now i will leave you with a picture of my lil man this morning!

Random Observations

2009-01-22T15:36:00.000-06:00

So...as i work on adjusting to this new state, city, neighborhood, etc. there are just a few things that i have observed. And i'm going to share them here if for no other reason than to just get them off my chest!

* Apparently there is an unspoken 30 second red light rule...as in...once the light turns red most would stop right? Not here! The unspoken 30 second rule must be something like this....While the law says that a red light means stop, here in Pensacola you can still go for approx. 30 seconds after the light is red. SERIOUSLY. It scares me to death....i'm getting used to the other side of that unspoken rule which is wait a while after the light turns green before you go. That way if somebody in the "practicing the unspoken 30 second rule" club happens to be approaching the intersection your at they won't plow into you. CRAZY! Like SCARY crazy!

* While we're on the subject of driving here....i'm becoming more and more convinced that they do not teach turn signal usage in Florida driving schools. I'm just sayin'! For the love of all things good could these people just use a turn signal?!?

* Florida schools are WAY advanced compared to Washington schools. I am just amazed at how vastly different the level of curriculum and expectations are. This has made for a bit of a tough adjustment for Colby. And an overwhelming couple of weeks of trying to figure out how in the world to help him catch up and adjust in the midst of everything else that has been going on. Thankfully, we have been blessed with a wonderful teacher who has been in constant contact with me and is all for working together with us to make sure he is encouraged w/ positivity and that we are all doing what is best for him. Colby is doing well and is improving each day. I can't ask for anything more from him. I am consumed w/ the thought that there should be some kind of national standard for curriculum that would prevent this from being an issue.

* I despise unpacking. It is hands down the worst part of this lifestyle. I don't like having to spend so much time trying to figure out what will work where and what we have that we can use and what we can't. It's exhausting and i'm so ready to just be done. Like completely done. Anybody out there happen to be a good motivator?? I think i need a swift foot up my rear to get motivated to finish this whole unpacking thing up!

* I'm pretty sure i always hear this state referred to as "sunny Florida". And i guess i mistakenly thought that meant that it wouldn't be cold here. The key word there was mistakenly. I've had to scrape ice off of my windshield more times than i can count on one hand in the couple of weeks we've been in the house. Not a big deal but very unexpected!

* It's dangerous to have Sonic and Chick-fil-a around again! Neither of them does me any favors in my quest to lose weight. But after 3 years of not having them it's a fierce battle i'm facing! Fierce indeed. And for the most part i'm winning but sometimes i just can't take it and i give in. Like right now i'm craving a big fat sonic burger. Will i give in or stay strong? We shall see!

* I need a girls night. Or a girls morning of coffee and girl talk. Or just a girl friend period. In the last 2 and 1/2 weeks i've talked to a whopping 5 people. My husband and kiddos make up 3 of that 5. I've also talked to Colby's teacher (which isn't very "fun" talk right now) and to a friend of ours from Whidbey Island who is here now. Only that friend is a single dude....not exactly someone i can call up and hang out with. *sigh* I'm really missing all my girlfriends right about now!

I guess i'll stop rambling now! Oh it feels good to get all that off my chest! I must go fold laundry and put away the growing pile of folded clothes!! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week!

The Sweetest Words

2009-01-21T08:46:00.000-06:00

It was a typical weekend night. The boys were all tucked into Colby's bed and excited that Colby didn't have school the next day so they could sleep together. We said prayers and sang and then as i tucked them both in one last time Colby said the sweetest words i've ever heard. With an ear to ear grin on his precious face he said "Your the best Mommy and Daddy ever!" Tears filled my eyes as i kissed him and told him how very much i loved him. I am so humbled by such unconditional love. I am so far from perfect in any way but most definitely as a Mommy. I lose my cool, my patience runs out at times, I forget to send lunch money or a snack to school....oh how far i am from perfect. Yet in this little boys eyes i'm the best. How blessed am i that God chose me to give this child to?!? I am overwhelmed with gratitude that God has given me the opportunity to love and nurture these lil men and i am ever so grateful for the love they have for me. I never knew love like i do now until i held Colby in my arms that first time. And so when i am tempted to lose my cool, when my patience seems to be running out...I will pray. Pray that i can be all that God would have me be for these precious gifts I call my sons. Pray that He would give me the strength to not lose my cool, to be patient and do my best to live up to being the "best mommy ever"!

Oh my goodness ya'll!

2009-01-20T08:40:00.000-06:00

Let's talk Bachelor, shall we?? I'd say the theme for last night's episode would easily be DRAMA!!! Crazy drama! And there was so many things that i was thinking while watching it but i didn't take notes so i'll probably forget half of what i wanted to say but here it goes....

The date w/ Stephanie and her lil girl was so sweet!! And i'll say it again...i really wish there was something more there but i don't see the connection there on a romantic level like i see with other girls. I could be wrong but i just don't see the two of them ending up together. But....John and I agree that she would be a strong candidate for the next bachelorette!?!

I was not at all upset to see Natalie go.......she just wasn't for him. And i'm going to have to borrow this from my bloggy friend at a boy, a girl, and a pug because she said it so well...."the girl really could of gone on a date with just the diamonds"!! Couldn't have said it any better! And is it just me or is it just a little odd that when asked to say something about herself she said "i really like bears".....WHAT? That one cracked me up!

The group date was fabulous! What a neat idea and a great way to have fun, give back, and get to know the girls! Shannon and Nikki were just awkward.....it just isn't there. Loved Jillian again! She is so fun! Melissa was cute as always.....i probably would have kept the whole breast reduction thing to myself but whatev! Megan needs to go.....she always seems to be at the center of the drama and seems a little too rough and confrontational. I just really don't see him with someone like that! (because don't ya know that i am the expert on who is best for Jason. ha!) Kari seemed sweet but just didn't seem cut out for that type of dating environment! (i'm right there w/ her....how in the world these girls do it is beyond me!)

Did you see the previews of next week....the part that showed him saying he couldn't give out the final rose?!? Can't wait to see what that is about! And when in the world is Deanna coming back?? I'm not sure how many girls he eliminates next week but i say there are four more that could have gone last night....Lauren, Megan, Nikki, and Shannon.......beyond that i am a little torn! Its going to be fun to see how it all plays out!!

Undecided

2009-01-19T09:06:00.000-06:00

I used to never have any trouble making decisions. I would decide on something and that would be it. Now? Not so much....i have issues. Serious issues with making a solid decision on some things. One of those things is my blog design.....i'm not sure if i like it or not. And it may take me a few days to get it figured out and find something i'm happy with. So be patient with me....i promise i'll make up my mind soon! =)

ps....The Bachelor is on tonight!!!!!!

All together now....B-A-C-H-E-L-O-R!!!

2009-01-13T10:03:00.000-06:00

Wow Wow Wow Wow Wow!! I'm loving this season! Sooooo much to talk about here especially since i didn't get to post about last week!!!

Lets start with last week......I actually didn't have any real stand outs. The three that kind of stood out to me were Jillian, Melissa, and Nikki. Shannon with her over the top knowledge was a little crazy to me and while the hotdog thing with Jillian was a little strange it was quirky and for some reason i thought it was kind of cute. And then there was the previews w/ Deanna. WHAT?!? I'm skeptical, i have to admit.....they tend to really chop different scenes and play them all together in previews to get us all worked up! That one is driving me nuts....HAVE to know what her being back is all about!

AND

Last night! Wow! There are two in my mind that are definite stand outs!! But first i will start with the opposite...

*Raquel~ A little over the top to hop in the limo like she did and i love that Jason cannot hide what he's thinking....his face says it all!! He was totally weirded out and i would have been too! And then her comment about finding someone who would love her enough that if something happened to her they wouldn't want to find someone else......STRANGE to say the least. Not surprised she is gone!

*Shannon~ This girl annoys me to no end! I think it is completely odd that she knows so much about his family...its one thing to know his and Ty's b-days, but to know his siblings names, who they are dating/married to, their kids names.....that is a little much! And the immature little things she does when he is spending time with other girls drives me nuts........she needs to go!

*Lauren~ Oh my goodness...this girl! "Thank God it wasn't me" when speaking of the first 1 0n 1 date??!! Are you serious? Heaven forbid you have to wear your hair up while you spend time with the man you are there to get to know and possibly fall in love with! This isn't a pageant sweetie! Way too needy and self absorbed to take on the role of a step mom in my opinion!

And now on to the two that i really like right now for him! The two 1 on 1 dates last night were great!

* Jillian is very confident and sure of herself but not in a stuck up kind of way! She seems quirky and passionate and fun and they are great together! The date was fantastic and i'm really liking her for him!

* Melissa stood out to me last week as "his type" and she seemed really sweet! Last night she stood out even more......their date was fabulous as well. Kinda cheesy but hey....it's reality tv so i'll let it slide! She seems really fun and sweet!

Those are the two that really stand out to me right now as having a great connection with him right off the bat! Stephanie is such a sweetheart and so genuine but i just don't see much of a connection there yet. I want there to be because she is such an amazing woman but so far i'm just not seeing it. And there are a couple of other girls who are cute but several of them are a little more quiet and reserved this season so we will have to see how everything plays out!!

Next Monday can't come soon enough! What are everyone else's thoughts?!? Talk to me!! And ps....loved the nerdy dance he did on the group date! Too funny!! Can't wait to hear what everyone else it thinking!! =)

There's No Place Like Home!

2009-01-09T22:06:00.000-06:00

So...i've thought and thought about how in the world i could write about our whole visit to Texas and keep it at a reasonable length. And i've come to the conclusion that i can't! So i am going to share some of my favorite pictures with a brief description of each and by doing so will share my favorite highlights of the visit!

It was actually really cold when we first got to Texas so John's mom (aka Culka) gave the boys each one of her jackets......they loved them and they became their star wars costumes! They had a blast!

For the big party at John's parents house, his mom rented a jumpy castle and to say the least it was a hit! I think the boys jumped about 4 hrs and 45 minutes of the 5 hr rental!! A shot of the boys jumping before everyone got there.......

One of my bestest girlfriends (like since elementary school...love this girl!) braved the 2 hr drive to John's parents for the party! It was so special to get to see her sooner than expected!! Here is me & Tracy!

Culka loves to bake and the boys love any chance to spend time with their Culka so they took some time to bake together one afternoon!

Once we said goodbye to John's family we traveled to see my family and friends!! My girlfriend, Tracy, hosted a get together at her house for some of my best friends. We had such a great time visiting and watching the kids play! The kiddos all got along so well and it was fun to watch them all make friends so quickly! When the kids all sat down to open their gifts they just happened to sit in order from youngest to oldest! Caiden-2, Madison & Brayden-3, Kaitlyn-5, Colby-7, & Maddy-10!

On Christmas Eve we were blessed to get to spend the afternoon and evening @ my Papa and Grandma Lil's home! This was the tradition for me growing up and for us before we left for Washington so it was special for me to be able to be there with them again! Now, i know in alot of places people marvel at the beauty of snow and play in the fluffy white stuff around Christmas. Not in Texas! The boys raked leaves for Papa and then played in them! They had so much fun and we enjoyed watching the joy they found in such simplicity!

The boys spent quite a bit of time with my Mom which was special to them and to me! They went to lunch at McDonalds and to the pet store one afternoon. The boys LOVE going to pet stores! And then they got to go to the movies with my Mom and Meemi (my grandma) our last afternoon there. It was just such a blessing to me for the boys to have this time to make memories with their grandparents! Here is a pic of the boys w/ my Mom and step dad, who the boys call Granny and Papi...

And last but not least~Santa visited a second time!! (actually you may remember his elf jingles helped him out the first time but anyway...) Colby got a microscope set and 2 sets of pre prepared slides which he LOVES! And Brayden got a batcave toy he wanted which he has really enjoyed! Here is the loot and a shot of the boys Christmas morning....

These were just a few of the very special memories made during our visit! We feel so blessed to have had the time with all of our friends and family and can't wait to make it back to see everyone again!!

Alive

2009-01-09T13:07:00.000-06:00

Just had to drop in like REAL QUICK and let you all know that I am alive!! The madness in the Miculka house has been over the top but we are in our new home and things are moving along! We just got the internet at home last night and i have been trying to catch up on email and blog reading inbetween unpacking, laundry, and all the usual day to day chores! Colby had his first day of school here today(long story as to why he just started) and i am off to pick him up shortly!! I pray you all had a wonderful Holiday season and that the new year is bringing lots of happiness and joy your way! I'll be back soon with thoughts on the Bachelor (OH MY GOODNESS), some favorite pictures from our visit with family and friends in Texas and pictures of our new home!!

Suitcases, Santa & More

2008-12-12T13:40:00.000-06:00

Oh. My. Goodness. The last 2 weeks feels like an eternity! E.T.E.R.N.I.T.Y. And just think....we only have about 3 1/2 weeks of living out of suitcases to go! We are so blessed to be able to spend this time visiting friends and family and i don't want to forget that. But DANG! I am so ready to find our next house and make it a home. To settle down and put this away for a while....

I'm going to do my best to sum up everything that has happened over the last couple of weeks but forgive me if this post ends up a lil long!

Last Monday we checked into the hotel that would be home for our last week in Oak Harbor. The "room" was amazing! It was a 2 bedroom suite and was so spacious....which was such a blessing! With the stress and emotion of the move we really enjoyed having room to spread out and relax and unwind each night. The boys had their own bedroom so John and I could still have our time in the evenings and we were able to keep the routine pretty much the same! Another huge blessing in the room.....a laundry room! We were able to do all of our laundry before hitting the road which was so nice!! And the tub in the master bath...check this thing out....need i say more??

Things with the movers went really well! They had everything packed and loaded in 2 days which gave us plenty of time to clean and run last minute errands w/o rushing! We had more offers from friends to help out than we could even use and we are so very grateful to all of them. Last Thursday we turned in the keys to the house. The home that so many memories were made in. The home where our boys grew and learned so much. Where I grew to be the woman, wife, and mother that i am today. Colby went to school for the last time in the school where he attended his first day of kindergarten. It was very hard. Very emotional for me. It seemed all day long there was a continuous stream of memories going thru my mind. Good, bad and everything in between. Then we went and picked Colby up from school and got to stand outside the classroom for the last few minutes of the school day and hear all of his friends saying goodbye. We helped him pack all of his things into his backpack and we walked out while listening to Colby talk of all the special things his teacher and class did for him that day. The one that really touched me the most was that his teacher made time in the day for his classmates to write letters to Colby. Each of them was so special and i know this meant so much to Colby. That evening we had dinner with our closest friends which was such a blessing. It was so hard to say goodbye but such a blessing to have that one last evening with all of them.

Then last Friday we hit the road! Said goodbye to Whidbey Island, WA and all it has meant to us and we said a teary eyed hello to what God has in store for us. The drive was fairly uneventful. We learned that Brayden is not as great a road tripper as Colby but with a little patience and distraction we were able to keep him pretty entertained most of the way. We oohed and aahed at the wonder of God's creation as we made our way south through Washington, Oregon, and California! We got to stay in southern California and have dinner with some wonderful friends who moved a few months ago which was alot of fun! The kids exchanged Christmas gifts and we enjoyed catching up! Finally on Tuesday we crossed the Texas state line!! And the most ironic part of the trip by far is that we drove through several mountain passes in the northern part of our trip and didn't see ANY snow! We drove into Texas and hit a pretty good snow storm. In West Texas. SERIOUSLY?!? We couldn't help but laugh at the irony! And late that night we made it to John's parents house. Exhausted and ready to be out of the car but thankful that we made it safely!

We haven't been back home to visit since we moved to Washington so it is fun to be back and to see what has changed and what hasn't! The boys are thoroughly enjoying being spoiled by Grandma and Papa Culka(as they call them) and Uncle Eric! Poor Uncle Eric lost all rights to privacy or relaxation and gained two little admirer's and tag alongs! The boys just can't get enough of their Eric!

Wednesday night we decided to go to dinner and then come home and open gifts! The boys were sooooo excited and even more so when they came home and found this.....

That's right! A note from Santa's elf Jingles explaining that Grandma and Papa 'Culka had written and asked if Santa could come a little early to their house! The guy in the big red suit couldn't make it as he was busy building toys but he happily sent his best elf Jingles with a little something special!! And what might that little something special be you ask?? It's a......

And oh yes...there has been a lot of wii playing going on!! We LOVE it! Best money spent in a long time!! I can see many family nights spent playing the wii together! Santa also sent a wii fit for Mommy and Daddy which i am really excited about! All of it is great.....i have nothing bad to say about the system so far!

Tomorrow, John's mom is throwing a huge party and has invited all of the extended family and John's friends! We are expecting about 75 people!! There will be a bouncy house for the kiddos to play in, lots of food, and lots of catching up! It should be a good time...we are looking forward to it! I'll do my best to snap a few pictures and post them in the next few days!!

And thats about it for now! It was tough to try to remember and write all that the last two weeks has held! Thank you all for your sweet comments and patience while my posting has been so unpredictable!!

Quick Update

2008-12-10T17:47:00.000-06:00

We made it!! Over 2500 miles and 4 days in a car together and we actually still pretty much like each other!! We made it to John's parents house in small town Texas late last night and have spent today just relaxing! We are going to dinner tonight and opening presents when we get home. I have lots of pictures to share and i have a usb cable to use now, so i'm hoping to find time in the next couple of days to share pictures and write more! Hugs!

My Heart Hurts

2008-12-04T23:38:00.000-06:00

Words fail me. My heart is broken. Into a million pieces. There are sisters that are by birth and then there are sisters that God blesses you with along the journey of life. I said goodbye to two of those sisters tonight....two amazing women that God brought into my life a few years ago. We have been through one of the most unthinkable, heart breaking and gut wrenching tragedies together. We have experienced the high of absolute joy and happiness together. We've cried. We've laughed. We've loved each other's children and watched them grow. And we've done it all together. And while my head knows that this isn't goodbye forever, only for now.....my heart isn't there yet. The goodbye hurts. So bad.

Sarah and Crystal~ Thank you. I am so very grateful for the last 3 years. For the memories, the heartache, the laughter, the tears, the joy. For the beginning of a lifetime of friendship. The two of you are a such a blessing to me and to my family. I am a better wife, mother and woman because of my friendship with you. I love you and will miss you more than you know. New York City or Bust ladies.......2010!!!!!

For all of my wonderful bloggy friends.......my amazing friend Sarah has started a blog and you have to head over and show her some bloggy love!! I still don't know how to do that whole click here and it will link to something else trick (if anyone wants to help a sista out let me know!) but you can find her at Every Which Way but Home on my blog list to the right!! Shower her with a great big welcome to the blogosphere!! Hope everyone is having a fantastic week and i will be back soon with updates!! Atleast written updates...i kinda accidentally let the movers pack my usb cable so pictures will have to wait until i can get a new one. I miss keeping up w/ everyone and hope to be back in the saddle again soon!

Not. Cool.

2008-11-30T07:43:00.001-06:00

Soooo....it's 5:45am. I've got about 26 hours until the movers get here. And i'm awake. Because i have so much to do you ask?? Nope! Because the anxiousness is getting the best of me maybe?? Not so much. Oh yeah....its because we woke up to the lovely sound of my poor baby boy retching by the side of our bed. Brayden is sick. GREAT....just lovely. Soooo trying right now to keep a positive outlook on this whole thing and if he was going to get sick I am glad that it is now and not on the road. But other than that....the timing is HORRIBLE. And now i am just praying that if anyone in the house is going to get it that it happens soon. And that it will be a short lived virus. So if anyone can spare some extra prayers for us we would sure appreciate it. Prayer for quick healing for lil man and prayer that maybe just maybe the rest of us can avoid getting it at all! I know God will get me through this....i'm just so overwhelmed that it sure feels like alot to bear right now. And i'm so thankful that i have this forum to vent a little so that these words don't spill out to John or the boys. So that i can get this off of my chest and go back to being the best mommy and wife i can. I do indeed have so very much to be thankful for and this too shall pass.

My plan was to do progress in pictures where tonight i would post before pictures and then each evening of the mover being here i would post pictures of the progress. So.....i'm going to do my best to stick to my plan. If that doesn't happen i will post once we are done with movers and cleaning and give everyone the low down! I pray everyone is have a great Thanksgiving weekend!!

A little of this and A little of that....

2008-11-14T21:48:00.000-06:00

I am so completely overwhelmed right now that trying to compose a typical post is beyond me. But i want to post and i can't begin to tell you how many times i've thought over the last couple of weeks "oh i want to post about this" or "aahhh that would be a great post" and yet here we are. No posts about any of it and one chica doing my best to keep my head above water and take things one day at a time. So here it goes....a random list of things that have been going on around here!

*we sold hubby's truck. A true blessing and answer to prayer. Also a very real lesson about who's in control and it ain't me! It happened so much faster than we ever dreamed it would! Hubby listed it late one night and THE NEXT morning we got a call from someone who was pre approved and wanted to see it asap. To make a long story short it was a hectic two days of rearranging schedules, ferry rides back and forth, talking to the bank and so on and 48 hours after listing it we were down to one car. Isn't that just like God??!! Only He could have orchestrated every detail to work out as perfectly as it did. And He taught me a lesson....things didn't go the way I had planned but He was faithful to provide! We are so very blessed!

*i faced one of my biggest fears in life this week. and it wasn't pretty. but i did it. i went to the dentist. my heart rate just doubled because i typed that word. thats how much i dislike the dentist. i broke my jaw my senior year of high school and ever since then i have a definite dentist phobia. but i went and what should have been 1 regular visit turned into 3 visits with a total of 12 injections in my mouth over two days and alot of soreness. i knew i needed a cleaning...i had no idea what i was in for. but its done for now atleast. and guess what...i get to go to the dentist every 4 months instead of 6. FABULOUS. Just fabulous. it could be worse though right. it could be worse and maybe if i keep telling myself that i'll eventually believe it. and one last thought on this one....don't ya think w/ all the technology we have now that they could make dental torture tools silent????? i mean is that really too much to ask??

*have i mentioned that i am embarking on a cross country move in 21 days?? 21 DAYS!!! i have a list that is like 2 1/2 pages long full of things that need to be done in the next 16 days before the movers get here. Oh my goodness......all i can do is crack up. because if i didn't crack up i would either scream or cry and i'm not too fond of either of those options. so i randomly laugh out loud when i begin to think of all that needs to be done. and try to be mindful of the fact that God is so good. And he has been so incredibly faithful through this so far and He will continue to be. Why is it so difficult sometimes to just rest peacefully in knowing that He has prepared the way and will continue to provide?

*i have a hubby who is beyond amazing. i don't know that i've ever been more grateful for him than i am right now. he is always ready and willing to do whatever needs to be done to help me out. he has been so incredibly supportive, loving and helpful and there just aren't words to truly say how thankful i am. my hubby rocks!

*today when i really really should have been cleaning my house or doing one of the millions of things on "the list"...i wasn't. I gave into my 3 year old's request for me to "just yay(lay) on the cowsh(couch) and watch docor sooosss(dr suess) wif me". It was just what i needed! A little cuddle time with my lil man.......it was the most worthwhile messy house i've had in a while!

*Colby is at a sleep over tonight. it blows my mind that i have a child old enough to be reading chapter books and going to sleep overs. where does the time go??

*i have a Stampin Up! event tomorrow morning that i haven't gotten the food for or designed the project i am supposed to be bringing! So i guess i should go now so that i can go to the store and get the fruit tray and get home and design something! And maybe even get some sleep before i have to be there in the morning!!

So there ya have it.....random and unorganized thoughts from yours truly!

To sum it up....my life is crazy right now. But regardless of how crazy or hard it has been i am blessed beyond measure. I have so very much to be grateful for and i am doing my best to remain mindful of this wonderful fact and not get too wrapped up in stress and discouragement. No doubt my presence here will be unpredictable but i will write as much i can find time to!