Emmy & Hayden's Birthdays!

All 3 of my nieces celebrated their birthdays in the last month, and a few weeks ago I was lucky to get to head north to spend a pre-birthday weekend with Emmy & Hayden! Emmy turned 4 and Hayden turned 2, and those girls are just too cute! I got Hayden a few really cute Eric Carle books, and Emmy her very own Caboodle with chapstick (or as she called it, lipstick!) and nail polish packed inside!

They had a great time playing with their gifts and I had a great time celebrating with them! Look at those sweet sisters! We both agreed this picture above of Em putting 'lipstick' on HK will be perfect wedding slideshow material someday!

Yes, I know the flower in my hair is extremely large, but these girls usually rock some huge bows so I figure that if there's ever a time to wear this cream flower, it would be with Em & HK!

Stay tuned for another post about these girls next week, I'll get to see all 3 nieces this weekend! Lucky me!

Table Top 2010

Tonight our church Women's Ministry hosted the annual Table Top Banquet. In years past tables were done by small groups and could be any theme, but this year things were a bit different! Each table was done to spotlight a ministry or cause that the hostess is involved in. Tables ranged from human trafficking to pregnancy help centers,and kids tutoring to pet therapy! My small group decided to focus on a safe house for girls rescued from human trafficking/sex slavery. We had super cute bird houses from Hobby Lobby as our centerpieces, and I made little swinging signs with the name of our organization. We accented the table with gold linens, and little bird nests for sugar packet holders. Overall I think it was really cute!

After table viewing and dinner, 3 women in our church were interviewed by our missions pastor, and you can read their stories here on the Go Beyond Blog! These women really felt God calling them to action in ministries here and around the world, and their stories really inspired all that attended to seek where God wants us to be investing.

I had a great time decorating, but an even better time with some of the wonderful women who are investing in my life right now! It was definitely encouraging to hear all the passions of those around me, and to see how women are using those passions to bring glory to God!

Can't wait til Table Top 2011, we had a great time this year!

Monday....

UGH! Today has been one rough Monday! I started my morning by dropping off my car to get it checked out since my Engine Light has been on the past 2 weeks...I should know by now that the engine light is no light matter! 8 hours and $627 later I picked Blaze up and drove home...feeling totally beaten down! I had plans to do so many other things with $627 dollars this month, but God is good and He always provides! I'm grateful to have a running car, and very thankful that I have a good mechanic who I know didn't charge me an extra $100 just because Christmas is coming up and his kid wants a shiny new toy. So, on that note I have to plug the awesome place that helped me out today with the repair!

Katy Auto Care is located on the south side of the I-10 feeder between Mason & Grand Parkway. The owner of the shop is a member of my church, and truly runs his business with Godly integrity! He was honest, quick & even gave me a free car wash when they were finished fixing my car! Secretly one of my favorite parts about his shop is that he brings his dogs to work! Bear, a 10 year old yellow Lab & Bama a 3 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever are the shop's mascots and will greet you at the door! Well, they'll at least be right inside the door sleeping on the floor! I think they're smart to have pet therapy in a place that can be so stressful! Anyway I took a little picture of Bear & Bama as I petted them this morning....I know, creepy!!!!!! I just love dogs!

You might remember these dogs from my VBS post this past summer, they were too cute in their cowdog skits during worship rally!

Thanks again Katy Auto Care for taking such good care of me, if you live in the area I definitely recommend these folks!

Running again..

Now we all know I'm NOT a runner. However I have several friends who are runners, and when I read about their races, or the goals they've accomplished via running (weight loss, endurance) I'm always so inspired to run! I kicked off this year by doing a New Years Eve 5K, my first ever race. I didn't make any sort of respectable time, and I'm sure I walked more than I ran, but I did it! 11 months later and I'm still not running.
That's all about to change...
This week my roommate and I decided to put some effort in and reach our goals! I'm reaching for running an entire 5k, and to get there we'll be running 4-5 times a week. Last night we went out and completed a 3.1 mile course, alternating running and walking. We'd run from one light post to the next, then walk a post, run, walk, run, walk...you get the idea!
I did pretty well alterating and only two or three times did I skip a running light post, so when I got home I was pretty proud of myself! Today I think I'll ride my bike so I get some variety, but another big problem is that I BADLY need new shoes! My old Nike shocks that I wear to work just weren't cutting it in the foot support department!
SO, I've got a goal, and I've got a plan. All I need is your encouragement, tips and tricks! By the time Christmas rolls around I'll be ready for my 5k, and maybe buying some cute new clothes!

Antiques

If you've been to my house you know I love decorating. I love Pottery Barn, but I also love antiques. Most of my favorite items in the house are antique store finds, such as this Baylor Bear piece I found in Montgomery Texas.

That same store produced the window frame that hangs in my kitchen, and the door knob that I hang my jewelry from. All fun pieces with plenty of character!

Over Labor Day weekend I went to a few shops in downtown Rosenberg, and though I walked away empty handed I found plenty of fun things while I browsed. Things like....

A white pottery collection, stacked against another simply worn window pane.

An ivory picture frame ready to be repurposed! I wanted this one to copy an item I'd seen recently in a PB catalog, they took frames and ran wire across the inside of the frame, hung it on the wall, then used it to hang all their earrings! So cute!

A Corticelli thread spool cabinet, filled with a rainbow of old thread spools!

A vintage looking gold R, which I found out wasn't so antique after I spotted it in the stores at Hobby Lobby!
A tin shelf that would have looked perfect in my front room...

Finally, I found Jesus! It really is true he's everywhere!! Once I found Him, I realized He was in almost every store!
I love the man, but I'm not sure my next antique purchase will be a Jesus statue...I'll probably just stick with home decor!

Labor Day 2010

REWIND- I never got around to this post in September, so today's post is a catch up!

This year my ENTIRE family was in town to spend Labor Day weekend together!! Since I didn't get around to blogging right after their visit I've forgotten a little about the weekend, but I did manage to make a list of the highlights...

Friday- Dinner with Greg, Gina, Ava, Brad & my parents at La Finca. Check out Ava with her little backpack, she's such a cutie!
Saturday- Gramma Rowe came to visit and we had lunch at Another Time soda fountain, a really cute place in Rosenberg. After that I did some antique shopping (more on that later), we had Willow's 3rd birthday party, then hit up the candy store & had a tasty homemade dinner thanks to mom! Of course in the middle of all that the nieces had plenty of playtime with their aunts, uncles & cousins!

OH, and we had torrential downpours that day, so when I tried to go home and get Willow for her birthday party I had to park 2 blocks away and wade through 18 inches of water to get home!
Sunday we went to church- my parents HAVE to show off their nieces to the pastor and their friends, then we had lunch at las flores. Naps followed lunch and we ended the day with dinner at Fuddruckers. Our family loves to eat! Emmy got special permission to stay up late with me so we could paint our toenails, and she LOVED it! I got her nailpolish for her 4th birthday because she's so in love with it now! I'm sure her mom LOVES me for giving a 4 year old such a potentially messy gift, Sorry Jess!
Monday/Labor Day we all packed into the cars and headed to Conroe to visit my mom's parents, Dee Dah & Paw Paw. They prepared a delicious BBQ lunch for us and Dee Dah even made us tasty pies for dessert!



The girls enjoyed playing Paw Paw's piano and we enjoyed time with our sweet grandparents!

After lunch everyone headed their own ways, and I think it's safe to say we were all pooped from a long really fun weekend! Can't wait to see everyone together again soon, with two nephews on the way between now and January it may be hard to do, but we always have fun when we are together!

Tortilla Soup

I figure after yesterday's post I owe an explanation for all the onion tears! My Dee Dah gave me a cookbook for Christmas a few years ago that was made by all the women in her church's auxiliary. This week I pulled it out in hopes of finding a good crock pot recipe, and settled on a tasty Chicken Tortilla Soup! Here's the recipe, perfect for the cool weather we've been having!

You'll need:

1 1/2 lbs skinless boneless chicken

1 (15 oz) can whole tomatoes

1 (10 oz) can enchilada sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

1 (4 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups water

1 (141/2 oz) can chicken broth

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (10oz) pkg frozen corn

1 T dried chopped cilantro

2 T vegetable oil

Fresh grated parmesean cheese for garnish

In crockpot, combine chicken, tomatoes, enchiliada sauce, onion, green chiles and garlic. Add water, broth, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. After 1-2 hours, pull chicken breasts out onto a separate plate and shred with a fork, then return to crock pot to continue cooking.

Sprinkle tortilla strips and grated Parmesean over soup! Makes 6-8 servings.

My only changes would be adding more tomatoes, and maybe some more cilantro. Otherwise this was an easy tasty soup and it makes plenty for the freezer!

Onion Eyes

Here's what happens when you chop onions on the day you can't find your waterproof mascara...

CLOWN FACE!

Funnel Cakes & Funnel Clouds

Last weekend I went to Dallas to help my brother & sister in law move into their beautiful new home! (More to come on that trip later!) My parents were going and I decided to tag along to help, and of course squeeze in some Aunt Sarah time with two of my nieces. We had the craziest trip- starting with a minor fender bender in Madisonville when a Jeep rear ended us as we entered the city limits. Luckily we were pulling a trailer and he only damaged his own car.

This was funny because about 5 minutes before the accident I had felt like I needed to pray for safety during our trip, so I said a quick prayer and later realized I should be more specific with my prayers! I had asked God to keep us safe, then 5 minutes later we were pulled over after being hit! no one was injured, so we were technically safe! God is good!

We pulled over at Buc-ees to check for any damage, and while we were inside getting drinks the power went out and the entire store and parking lot was pitch dark!! Craziness!The next day as we were at Scott & Jess' new house the tornado sirens went off, but after checking the news we realized we were probably pretty safe. Whew!! Another disaster avoided!

Before leaving Dallas on Sunday we decided to stop at Jack in the Box to get some drinks and just as we pulled up to the pick up window Dad decided he wanted a funnel cake. So, we sat at the window a good 5 minutes waiting on the funnel cakes. Soon enough, we hit the road.

About an hour later we were driving south on I-45 when all of the sudden a cloud right before our eyes began moving towards the ground...in a spiral motion! Dad saw it about the time I did and he told me to grab my camera to get a picture, we were watching a tornado!

For about 2 minutes the cloud twisted and moved towards the ground, then raised back up into the sky and disappeared. Little did we know it had moved right across the path we were on, about 5 miles down the road! As we drove through the town of Rice, we saw the damage...golfball size hail everywhere, a school now missing it's roof, a de-railed train car on it's side, a football stadium in shreds, an 18 wheeler carrying a Caterpillar construction machine that had been picked up then tossed on it's side, landing on another small car! Here's a video of what we saw:

The 5 minutes we waited on our Jack in the Box funnel cakes kept us from being in the middle of that tornado! God is good, and He kept us safe!

A few minutes after we passed all that damage, it began to hail, and everyone began pulling off the road, we were sure another tornado would appear at any moment! We prayed again for safety, and scrambled for our phones to check the weather radar! After a quick look we decided it would be best to get the heck out of the storm, and we began moving again. We finally made it to Buc-ees where everyone inside was talking about the tornado. A few minutes later I'm pretty sure we hit a skunk, at this point we were just laughing and wondering what would happen next on our wild & crazy roadtrip!!

Moral of the story: Tornadoes are scary, but God is good! It was a once in a lifetime experience that I'm glad I lived to tell, but would be ok with never experiencing again! Also, there's no place like home!

NaBloPoMo 2010

November is upon us! I have to admit I've been on the fence about participating in National Blog Posting Month, 30 days of blogging is no small feat! So, since it's 11:29 PM I figured I'd go ahead and put up a quick post so if I decide I do want to participate I'll be on track to complete the required 30 posts in 30 days.

I have lots to catch up on from the past two weeks, but for now I'll just post some pictures of our adorable therapy dogs that came to the hospital in costume last week for Halloween!

Here's Amy, a sweet long haired chihuahua...I want to steal her!
Addie was a hot dog- perfect for her breed! Below Gracie is Wonder Woman!