40 Tips for Better Life - 2009

And No, I didn't come up with these, but I like them! Have a good day!!!! :)


1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.
2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.
3. Buy a DVR and tape your late night shows and get more sleep. (or just don't watch much TV; it's pretty much just a filler).
4. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today.'
5. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.
6. Play more games and read more books than you did in 2008.
7. Make time to practice meditation, and prayer.They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.
8. Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
9. Dream more while you are awake.
10. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.
11. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.
12. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
13. Clear clutter from your house, your car, your desk and let new and flowing energy into your life.
14. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, OR issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
15. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum t hat a ppear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
16. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
17. Smile and laugh more. It will keep the NEGATIVE BLUES away.
18. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
20. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
21. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
22. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
23. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
26. Forgive everyone for everything.
27. What other people think of you is none of your business.
28.REMEMBER GOD heals everything.
29. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
30. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.
31. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
32. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
33. The best is yet to come.
34. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
35. Do the right thing!
36. Call your family often. (Or email them to death!)
37. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.
38. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.
39. Enjoy the ride. Remember this is not Disney World and you certainly don't want a fast pass. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy the ride.
40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about. I just did.

May your troubles be less, May your blessings be more, May nothing but happiness come through your door!

Here is our 33 week belly shot. I know that I say each week that I can't believe that it's going so fast, but it is!!!!!!!!!! Baby C is going to be here before we know it. :) We have our final birthing class tomorrow night and then we have 3 more baby classes before we're completely done. We have enjoyed our classes and I'm so glad that we've done them (Les is too).

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!

32 week 3/D pictures!

First, I wanted to start out with a picture of me at 32 weeks, so here is that picture:

This picture is actually taken in the baby's room, however, it is going to change very soon! No more maps on the walls, the horse thing in the back will be coming down and the curtains will be changing too! Stay tuned for more on the baby's room. :)

Here are just a few pictures that were taken the other day (about 250 in all), so I won't make you wait any longer and here is what you have been waiting for - Baby C!!!!!

Oh before I forget, the first picture below Baby C is smiling and just as my mom was talking to my tummy - he smiled and the lady got him smiling. It was a very special moment for her!! He definitely knows his grammy's voice. ;)

I bet the next time that we post pictures of him - he will really be here!!! Only about 2 more months and our little guy will make his grand debuit!! :) I hope that you enjoyed the pictures - I know that I could look at them forever!!

We LOVE you, BABY C!!!!

Dog 4 Sale!

Okay, so I'm kidding; I wish! We have this dog named Bear who is not so much fun to live with.

Meet Bear Bear; the dog..............

These are his selling points if you're interested in having him for a week:

1. He can tear holes in your clothes (see Les' long underwear below - this happened last night). He has torn up my clothes too and we caged him for several months until he started causing problems in there too.

2. He can jump through your windows and tear the screens - he's only done this to us 2 TIMES!

3. He will tear up the carpet if you leave him inside for a few minutes:

4. He will tear or I mean SHRED your curtains if left alone also in the house - don't have a picture for that, but he did a great job, believe me. At least I got to do what I wanted to the curtains and that was to shorten them!!!! So, this was a positive thing for me. ;)

5. He will tear the blinds up and leave blood all over them, yes, this has happened, but before we were married.

He has many more positive attributes very similar to the ones listed above; just let me know if you would like to know them.

In conclusion, does anyone want him - I mean, he's a great dog and I think that you'll be just as happy with him as we have been!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahaha

President

President Barak Obama is officially now our new President of the USA. While I did not vote him; I know that God is in control and has allowed this to take place. I will continue to pray for him and pray that he will be able to hopefully balance out some of things that have been going on and also that he will listen to God for direction because I think He's the only one who can do anything.

I'm not going to continue anymore because I don't really enjoy talking about politics, but I wanted to post this since he is the 1st African American to be President. Hopefully that will build some bridges between the races.

That's it for now!!!

1st Baby Shower!

Okay, I know, I know, I have delayed in posting this because of several things and I'm so sorry. So, here we go!


For starters, I want to thank Christy and Kristy for putting it together! They are very close friends of mine and I appreciate everything that they did for me and Baby C!!! Also, I want to thank everyone who was able to come - we had a really good time. Les and I really appreciated everything that was given to Baby C.


I am going to share several pictures from the shower, so I hope that you enjoy them!

Here is Kristy, Me, and Christy

Here are the girls giving Baby C kisses!!

Here is the baby froggy cake that Christy & Jennifer made - it was awesome and I loved it!!! Frogs have a very special place in both mine & Christy's lives.

Here is my sweet mom and I. We had fun, but we fought tears too. This was the day after Les & I put Kodiak down. We made it and had fun too!!!!! I'm glad that I had the distraction of the baby shower. :)

Here is Julie and I. Julie and I have been friends for over 13 yrs - WOW! She has been through a lot with me. Julie is actually getting married in about 4 months now - YAY! Love you, Julie!

31 wks!!

Holy Cow, we're now in the single digits till the due date. However, who knows if he'll come before or after my due date, so we'll see. I still feel great and doing good. I am growing a little bit each week and whenever he's in the front; that can be a little uncomfortable, but he always moves, so it doesn't last too long. This morning I was super busy at work and I didn't even think about him that much. Then at lunch when I sat down for a little while and doing nothing; then he started moving around. He moved really hard one time and I felt my whole stomach move - that's such a crazy feeling! I sure wish Les could feel Baby C the way I do, but oh well, at least he can feel him on my tummy or watch him moving. :)

That is all for now - no pictures from today, but I'll try to get another one soon as we are coming down the wire!!!!

We have our 2nd birthing classes tomorrow night, so I'm looking forward to it and Les also has baby boot camp this Thursday. So, he's got a busy week of baby classes!!!

Have a great week!!! :)

Baby University!!!!

hahahahahahaha............well, not exactly, but we have started our birthing classes. We had our first class this past Wednesday and we had a lot of fun. We laughed, made a few jokes, and definitely learned a few things too. We have 3 more classes left and then we move onto 3 more classes that are 1. Preparing for baby; 2. Breastfeeding Preparation; and 3. CPR & First Aid for Infants.

So far we have had fun, but there's usually not many activities that we do that we can't find some humor or fun!! LOL

I'll keep ya posted on how our classes are going, but so far so good. Just hope that we make it through the next 6 weeks without Baby C being born. :)

The Infamous Buck

Okay, now for the story of this poor buck! Les was out hunting on Sunday morning and he saw this buck run by, but it was too brushy for him to be able to shoot it. Well, a little while later he heard a far off shot and about 2-3 minutes later the same buck runs through again. He has his gun up and about to shoot when all of a sudden; the buck falls over dead. Les left it there for about an hour and stayed in his tree stand. He shot at another buck about an hour later or so, but never found that buck. He asked around and no one claimed to take any shots around 7:30 AM, so he went back in and tagged it, gutted it, and drug it out; which was about 1 mile or so. Needless to say he was glad to have finally got it out of there!

I told Les that even though he didn't shoot it; God still provided for us. We eat on the meat that he shoots normally year round and then buy other meats (chicken, hamburger meat, etc.).

Enjoy the pictures!!!!

Les and the buck
Buck shot

ME and the buck!

Les and the buck again!

8 point buck; weighing in at about 100 lbs without the guts

30 weeks.........today!!!!

Here I am, slowly growing a little bit week by week! This picture was actually taken today, so it is truly the 30 week shot. :)

We had our appt yesterday and everything went really well. The doctor is happy about my progress and she checked me all over to make sure that there was no swelling. I am still able to wear my rings and she checked my ankles too. She doesn't see any swelling, so she said to just keep up the good work. The baby's heart beat was around 132 - 142 bpm. I don't know if the doctor will be doing anymore ultrasounds, but I do have my last 3D/4D ultrasounds in about 2 weeks. I am so excited to see our little guy again. He has gotten so active lately. In fact, one day last week he moved for over 15 minutes while my mom and I watched him. It was fun and we had a good time doing that.

We start our birthing classes tomorrow night and we're excited about that. It will be for 4 weeks and then there is 3 more weeks of other preparing for baby classes. The final class that I am very excited about is the Infant CPR & First Aid. My parent's are going to take that with us and I think that we'll enjoy that together.

I can't think of much more to write, so I am going to leave you with the pictures, so here you go!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I know that I am a few days late, but it has been a little crazy around our household. :) I am glad that 2008 is over and we can start with a clean slate in 2009.

Les and I rung in the New Year by eating out at Red Lobster and then coming home and spending time with each other. Last year we were in bed asleep before midnight, but this year we made it to midnight! I was surprised that I made it because I have started getting a little tired if I do too much during the day......LOL :) I am currently 29 wks along and doing really well. Les is finishing up hunting season for the season this weekend - it ends this weekend. He has had a lot of fun camping, hunting, scouting areas, etc.

A few highlights that we have had over 2008 was:

• We celebrated our 1st anniversary in October! That was exciting and we celebrated several times. On our way home from MO in September, Les had planned a night at a cabin in the woods. That was a lot of fun and very romantic!!!
• We found out that we were pregnant officially on July 28th. That was super exciting and now we're 29 wks and 3 days along. Where has the time gone?! We are looking forward to welcoming in our new little guy around the middle of March.
• We went to MO back in September for a week and we really enjoyed that. He got to meet some more of my family from Springfield. We went and visited the cemetery that my mom's family is buried at. It is a beautiful family cemetery. In fact, it is very close to the 1st house that my grandparents ever lived in when they 1st got married. I enjoyed showing Les more about me that he has not seen before. I am from TX, but I have quite a few memories of growing up in MO when we would see family. My mom spent a lot of time in Springfield, so she had a lot of stories to tell him. It was fun!
• We spent a long weekend in the Hill Country and that was a lot of fun too! We visited San Antonio and had fun downtown on the Riverwalk. We hiked around the Guadalupe River State Park and enjoyed a picnic there too.
• We pulled up the carpet in our living room - there is woodflooring underneath. We love the woodfloors and enjoy the old fashioned look that it gives. We both enjoy the rustic part of it. It was a lot of hard work restoring the floor, but it was well worth it in the end!

We have a lot to look forward to in 2009 and a few of those things that come to mind offhand are:

• We will be welcoming into the world our first child, a baby boy, hopefully around the middle of March. We're still working on the name and yes, I know, we only have about 10 wks till he'll be here. We're getting there, but haven't decided upon name yet.
• We start our birthing classes this upcoming Wed; which I totally cannot believe! I was telling Les that between my doctor appts and the classes; we will be at the hospital at least 1x a week from here on out till he arrives. WOW!!!
• Our nieces and nephew (the triplets) will celebrate their 1 year old birthday on January 31st! This is exciting!
• My best friend is getting married in May, so that is going to be a fun time!! Yay, Julie & Nathan - I am so excited for y'all. They just bought their first house and are so excited about that. :) Julie is like a sister to me and I am so thrilled that she is happy and about to start this new chapter in her life! I was just thinking today; Julie and I have been friends for about 13 yrs - geesh, that makes me feel old..........LOL Love ya chica!!
• My Mexican brother, Carlos, is getting married to a great girl, Deborah, in June. I don't know if we'll be able to go to the wedding b/c of the new baby, but we'll be there in spirit if we're not able to go. I love you, Carlos - CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I hope that you have a great 2009 and I am excited to see what comes our way this year. I pray that we will continue to follow God's plan for our lives. I also pray that Les and I will continue to keep the Lord in the center of our relationship because if it were not for Him; then who knows where we would be. Thank you, Lord for everything; we love you!

HAPPY 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Love You, Kodiak!

Kodiak, this blog is dedicated totally to you. I want you to know how much you meant to me and your daddy. We miss you so much and you will be forever in our hearts! This is a very hard time for us; especially yesterday when we had to make the best decision for you; which was to send you to be with Jesus before we were ready to let you go. I know that you understand because of the condition that your body was in. I am so glad that we were able to be there with you and love on you while you took your last few breaths on this earth. I know that we'll see you again in Heaven - make sure to take care of Grandma & Grandpa Brown, Sam and Josey up there. As I think back over all our memories and I am just so blessed to have had you. I don't know why God decided to take you after 5 years, but I guess that you were done on earth. I will always remember you and will never forget you. We love you so much, Kodiak!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Yay! I just love this time of year. It is a time of celebrating the birth of my Savior, Jesus Christ and a time to be with family.

This blog is going to be a hodge podge of things...........I totally need to update, so here we go!

Here is a picture of my girl, Kodiak, and I chilling on the couch. Daddy took a picture of laying together on the couch. She had her head resting on my neck and daddy thought it was too cute to pass up. This was taken a few weeks ago. Kodiak has been doing pretty good, but the cold has been hard on her hips (she needs her hips replaced, but too expensive), so she receives shots whenever she needs them. She had a few rough days, but she is back to her old antics again. It's definitely hard to keep her down!!!!! Kodiak is a mover and a shaker..........LOL :)

This past Tues, we started our 3rd trimester and I can hardly believe it. Here is the 28 wk "belly" shot. I look at the picture and can hardly believe it. I only see one view and that's looking at the top of my tummy and that's NOT what I see. I get excited when I see the pictures b/c then I can see what other's see. :) I had my monthly check-up this past Monday also. I had my glucose tolerant test (GTT) and I passed! My blood count was a little low, so my doc told me to take an Iron supplement, so I have started that. When we were at the check-up and before the doc came in, Les and my mom were talking to the baby and they each had a hand on my tummy. Les got to feel the baby for the 1st time and was quite amazed by the little living thing in my tummy growing. He has got to see my tummy jump, but that was the first time he actually felt him. He just smiled; which made me smile too. Now he can kind of see what I feel, but I feel it internally. ;)
The baby stats were:
HB: 138 - 142 bpm
Weight: a little over 2 lbs
EDD: March 17th
I am now scheduled to see my doctor every 2 weeks and I can't believe how quickly we have arrived at this. Seems like just yesterday we were finding out that we were pregnant. I have a huge range of emotions that hit me at different times, but overall, we're very excited about meeting our little Baby C.

CHRISTMAS BAKING!!!!!!!!!

Here are the iced sugar cookies that I made this year. My husband LOVES these cookies and I'm not kidding when I say that he has eaten probably 60% or more of them. I think that there are 5 left and NO I'M NOT KIDDING!!! I am married to a man who has a HUGE sweet tooth. The other things that I have made this year are choc truffles, oreo truffles, peanut butter and choc truffles, and fudge.

Here are the cookies; they turned out cute and here they are:

You can see that we each have our name on a stocking cap,

here is Baby C's, Kodiak's, and Bear's cookies.

Here are mine and Les' cookies.

We hope that you remember the real reason for Christmas and that is Christ's birth. He is the real reason for the season.............Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours!!!!!!!!!

Coming into the home stretch!

WOW, I can't believe that we'll be starting the 3rd trimester next week. I have no idea how the time has passed me so quickly, but I praise the Lord for having such a smooth pregnancy so far. We start our birthing classes in 3 wks from yesterday and our class is 7 wks long. It's not all birthing stuff, but there are 3 other classes that don't have anything to do with that.

I'll have Les take a picture of me in the next few days and post a new one soon. Maybe I'll wait till Tues and post a 28 week picture/belly shot. What do you think?!

Picture Tag

Okay, so I totally took this off the Steece blog. I really enjoy reading what Suz blogs about because she is one of the most up beat people. I don't personally know her, but what I do know about her from her blog - she a very kind, loving, Christian woman.

The object of the picture tag is to:

1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer

2) Select the 4th picture in the folder

3) Explain the picture

4) Tag 4 people to do the same

NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here we go:

This is really funny - okay, I had this barbarian blow-up headpiece, but I decided to make everyone put it on. This is Kodiak's turn wearing the barbarian blow-up headpiece. This was taken probably 3 years ago! I am so glad that my picture wasn't the 4th picture b/c it is not the best picture........hahahahaha

The 4 people that I am tagging are:
1. Amy (SIL)
2. Jill (SIL)
3. Kim (friend)
4. Sarah (friend)

I'll be looking forward to seeing your pictures!!!!

Hunting

It is supposed to be super cold tonight and Les is going hunting - be praying for him! He is going to be pretty chilly out there camping. I'm staying home and baking sugar cookies and then icing them. :)

Exciting news!!!

Okay, I will post the exciting news as soon as I can share it, but it is soo awesome! :)

Thank you, God for your many blessings on our lives!

UPDATE:
I can now tell of my exciting news because it has been approved through the bosses at work. After my maternity leave (3 months); then I will be returning to MMI to work part-time. I will be working between 12 - 15 hours a week. I will be coordinating my busiest country; which is Peru. I am so excited about this and so blessed to work at MMI. I am glad that they like me enough to be letting me work from home 6 hours a week (Mon, Wed and Fri) and work in the office another 6 hours a week (Tues and Thurs). I truly feel blessed to be appreciated that much by my boss that they would take my proposal and make it happen for me.

Another exciting thing happening in the family is that Christopher (my brother) will start in January working full-time with Team Impact (muscle men who are christians and go and share the Gospel using their strength). Christopher will be working at of their office and traveling with them from time to time as well. Christopher is very excited about this new opportunity and I am very happy for him that God opened this door for him.

Truffle Making

This blog was going to be all about making truffles, but I have to put in here that Les was able to see my tummy move and see our little guy moving around in there tonight. I was so excited because today my mom got to feel him move also. I was over there at lunch and I told her where he was moving, so she put her hand there and she felt him move 1x. I could feel more times, but she said that she couldn't feel them. So, she got to feel him and Les was able to see my tummy move a few times. This is sooo exciting!!!!

Okay, now on to my original post about truffle making. Every year I always make treats for family, friends, and neighbors. This year I decided to make truffles to add to my list of goodies. I have 3 recipes that I am making and I have 2 recipes down and 1 to go. Last night I made chocolate truffles and tonight I made Oreo truffles. Last night as I was making the balls; it was really sticky. I was talking to this lady at work today and was bouncing off a few ideas of mine to her to see what she thought. I mentioned to her that I had thought about putting flour on my hands to see if that helped with the stickiness and she told me a secret that someone once told her; now I'm going to tell you. SPRAY PAM ON YOUR HANDS! I thought that it was a pretty good idea and I did that tonight and it worked like a charm! I barely had any of the mixture on my hands after making the balls and I was happy about that. I am going to be making my last batch of truffles here in the next few days and will definitely be trying the Pam spray then too.

The other goodies that I will have this year as of right now are:
Fudge - this is already made and ready to go!
Iced Sugar cookies - I have new Christmas cookie cutters this year, so I'm anxious to use them. :)

As I sit here thinking; I guess that is all that I will be making, so I have 3 things done and 2 to go! YAY!!!!!

If you ever want any of my truffle recipes; just let me know!!! I love sharing recipes and enjoy baking/cooking. If I don't have a recipe that you want - I know that I can find something equally as tasty. ;)

Snow? MAYBE!

It's in our forecast to receive snow this evening - we have a 50% chance of precipitation. We'll see! ;) :)

I am so excited because I always enjoy seeing snow!!!!

UPDATE:
We have had sleet at our house this evening and it's VERY windy and cold out there! I'm thankful for the woodburning stove that provides our heat.

No More Triple Digits!!!!

We're now in the double digits! Today marks 99 days till our due date, now who knows when he'll actually come. I can't believe that he will be here in about 14 wks or less. Seems like just yesterday we were finding out that we were officially pregnant. My doctor called us on July 28th to give us the blood work results to confirm the pregnancy - WOW!

Tomorrow we'll be 26 wks along and so far everything has been very smooth. I praise the Lord for that because He has definitely been answering my prayers. He has taught me to rely fully on Him, appreciate everything and on and on. I am enjoying every move that I feel because I know that I will not have that feeling forever. I am just waiting for the day to come when Les will be able to feel him kick/punch/move. I have seen it with my eyes and felt it with my hand, so it's only time now till Baby C will let his daddy feel. When I tell Les to watch or feel, Baby C stops, so not much luck yet.

99 days and counting till Baby C makes his BIG appearance!