Sydney's Life

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Presents anyone?

Facebook's A Year in Photos

Gift card holders

These took a while but they were kinda fun. I got the pattern at the Two Peas website.....they turned out pretty cute. Hopefully no nephews or brothers-in-law will be checking out my blog before Christmas!

Christmas-y stuff: updated

The most beautiful Christmas tree ever, again

Happy Birthday Sissy! You Rock!

Seriously now....what about this face:

& what kind of Christmas would it be without a new sweater & a photo shoot?

 

 

Roll over, roll over............

It only took about 10 minutes to teach Maya to roll over but after 9 months she still won't come to me when I call her. It's a really good thing she's cute! Arg! 

I spy with my little eye.........something that makes my heart happy!

Valerie Salmon

I won this gorgeous camera strap cover from Valerie Salmon at http://valeriesalmon.typepad.com/ Sorry it's not a better picture...I had my daughter put it on before I took a picture of it!

You should go on over & check out her blog.....she's a very creative and nice gal!

Happy, Happy Birthday Baby.................. Oh, I Love You So!

Annual decorating of the cake

complete with concrete chunks.

Lots of help opening presents

lots of candles

lots of people that love you!

 
 

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving full of family

way too much food

 
and a Wii tennis tournament that I was promptly eliminated from. I can't even be a virtual athlete!

It was also this sweet baby's 2nd birthday

 
It was weird with out Grandma here and I had to make the dessing......strange

 
But, I survived & it turned out really good. All in all it was a really great day!

My Little Baby Fashionista

 
  
 
 

Basket Weaving 101 -- my second attempt

I went to Troy today with some friends and had a great day basket weaving. How cool is this?

A week of challenges:

My friend Cathy challenged us this week in the biggest way ever! Whew! I'm tired!

Day 1: This flower is actually made of layers of toilet paper! I just inked it up after it dried.

Day 2: This birdie was challenging! The wire was hard to work with & I had liquid glass every where!

Day 3: This guitar/music challenge made made me think of my Dad, which made me think of the song Bobby McGee, which made me think of the day my Dad taught Paige to play it. 

Day 4: Stuck in the Blinds card: I love it! It was a bit more time consuming but turned out great. I have a Christmas kit that had a ton of bits & pieces that all coordinate, so it made it easy.

Day 5: Tag challenge. I don't care for this one....love the snowman but the red cardstock isn't working for me!

 

  

My Life is so Good!

I woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow and to be honest, even though I hate winter, it was beautiful! I drank a pot of coffee with my daughter, took a nap and took my puppy for a walk. The temperature warmed up enough to melt the snow away & it was gorgeous out. My husband is hunting, my kids are busy and I'm not sure what to do next. Scrapbook? Drink more coffee? Another nap maybe? Bible study for sure! Sigh.....I really, really love my life. My family is so amazing & my God is so good.

The Love Dare, Day 11

This 40 Day Love Dare may take us 40 months! Stick with me! :)

Love Cherishes:

Husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. Ephesians 5:28

Marriage is a beautiful mystery created by God, joining two lives together as one. This not only happens physically but also spiritually & emotionally. Your identity as individuals has been joined into one. When you hurt, your spouse hurts. When your spouse rejoices, you rejoice. But then.....somewhere along the way you realize that you married an imperfect person!  This does not change the fact that your spouse is still a part of you. You must treat your spouse with the same care that you treat yourself. When you show love to your spouse, you are showing love to yourself as well.

And...if you mistreat your spouse, you are also mistreating yourself. Think about it. Your lives are interwoven together. Whatever you experience also affects your mate.

Its time to realize that your spouse is as much a part of you as your hand, eye or heart. They too need to be loved and cherished. If your spouse had issues that are causing pain or frustration, then you should care for these issues with the same love and tenderness as you would a bodily injury. You must think of yourself as an instrument that can help bring healing.

How do you treat your spouse's body? With love & tenderness? Do you take pleasure in who they are, or do you make them feel foolish or embarrassed? Treasure your spouse as a precious gift. Don't dishonor God's purpose for your marriage. Choose to love each other regardless. "He who loves his wife loves himself." When you look at your mate you are looking as a part of yourself. Treat him well. Speak highly of her. Nourish & cherish the love of your life.

Today's Dare is to meet a need that your spouse had today. Run an errand, do a chore...choose something that says "I cherish you!"

Wednesday Photos-Veterans Day

I grabbed my camera, a cup of coffee and Maya and went out for a drive this afternoon to get some pictures of the flags flying today in honor of our veterans.

 

 
So now, I'm sitting here thinking about Veteran's Day and being so thankful for all the service men & women that have and are spending their lives defending our country. I'm so thankful....words cannot even express it. There have been so many sacrifices made to keep our country safe and free. Freedom is definitely not free. 

Do we support our military people? Do we pray for them? Do we care for their families while they are away?  Do we care for them when they are old? What about when THEY need US?

I also wonder...what do they think when they watch what our country is turning into? Don't get me wrong. I love our great country. I'm just scared for it.

Thank You again, so very much, to all the men, women & families that have served us in the past and to those who are serving us now, and to those who will serve in the future. Thanks for protecting us. You can't know how much I appreciate you.

God Bless America, Land That I Love.

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" ~Maya Angelou

Are these gorgeous or what? I've been sick this week and Steve had these delivered to me. Is that sweet or what? He cooked, he cleaned AND he sent me flowers! Thank You God for such a great guy! 

Hello Internet Surfers...

I know it's kind of late but I was just reminded: Don't forget to change your clocks back tonight!

And I hope you had a fun Halloween. I stayed on the couch, vitamin c drops in hand & hid from the trick-or-treaters while my family gathered together to share pie & cider tonight at Steve's Mom's house. Bummer, but I didn't want to share these lovely germs. And Steve brought me some pie & cider home. Not quite the same, but still awesome! Thanks Marie!

Wednesday Photo

 
This is the view from our deck...that snow is a little too close for comfort! Is anyone else ready for spring? 

The Love Dare, Day 10

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Why do you love your spouse? Is it because of their looks, their personality, their strengths? What if over the years your spouse stopped being the things you initially liked about them? Would you still love him or her? If your reasons for loving your spouse all have something to do with their qualities and suddenly or gradually those qualities disappear, your basis for love is over.

The only way that love can last a lifetime is if it's unconditional. Determined by choosing to love. This kind of love is called agape love. It differs from the other types of love which are friendship & sexual love. These are obviously very important parts of a marriage but if your marriage depends on these alone, your relationship is unstable. Agape love is selfless & unconditional. It is "for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness & in health" kind of love. It is the only kind of true love.

This kind of love is the kind that God has for us. "We love because He first loved us" John 4:19.

It is unwavering.

If you say to your spouse that you have fallen out of love, then you have never loved your spouse unconditionally from the beginning.. Unconditional love will not be swayed by time or circumstance.

Today's Dare is to do something out of the ordinary today for your spouse, something that proves that your love is based on your choice & nothing else. Demostrate love to them for the sheer joy of being their partner in marriage.

Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge

It was an amazing day, thanks my friends! The weather was iffy at best but it worked out perfectly! We all got some great shots & I am thrilled with what I'm learning about my camera. We plan on going back during the different seasons....I can't wait for wildflowers to be in bloom! There is a new album to the right if you'd like to see some of the pictures I took, but here are some of my favorites:

 

 

Update:

I've been harped at to update.....so here I am. :) 

Funny thing is, I don't have much to say. It's not that I don't want to update. I love my blog! I just haven't been doing much. Or truthfully, I've pretty much been hiding out....grieving, resting, trying to get my life back. I wonder if I will ever feel normal? Lots of people have lost a loved one...how do they get back to normal? Will I always feel this empty feeling?

I've mostly been staying home, nursing my puppy. Working. Cleaning house. Doing laundry. Doing yard work. All the usual stuff. Chilling with my family. We went to the Red Dog & had pizza, we went bowling, we went to church. I got a haircut & ate most of 5 bags of candy that I bought for the Trick-or-Treater's that never come anyway.

I've been researching colleges with my daughter & laughing with my husband. I've taken numerous naps. Just a normal, everyday, wonderfully precious life. :) Trying to heal.

So.....you can clearly see that I'm having good days & bad.....but they are getting better.

Tomorrow however....I'm going to the Bonners Ferry Wildlife Refuge with my photography teacher &  my neighbor to take pictures and I CANNOT wait. I've taken classes recently & I'm ready to go practice my new techniques.

I also have been going to dog obedience classes. My Maya is learning to sit & it's the cutest thing ever! I'll post a picture soon!

Our new neighbor's gave Maya a lifejacket & some new shoes. Too Fun!

 

Sleeping the day away..........

 

Maya got spayed yesterday....poor little pumpkin-head. She's pretty out of it but much better than yesterday. This is her favorite blanket......which also happens to be MY favorite blanket. I'm letting her use it until she's better but then I'm taking it right back! How in the world could I take it now? She's soooo comfy. Sheesh. I've become one of "those" dog people.

Watch this amazing video:

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=9de528cc31a6235cdd35

The Love Dare, Day 9

Greet one another with a kiss of love. 1 Peter 5:14

You can tell much about the state of a relationship from the way we greet one another. Expression & body language says a lot!

How do we greet our acquaintances? Even the people we don't necessarily like, yet we are still courteous too? Doesn't our spouse deserve better than that?

The book says it's probably not something we think about often: What is the first thing we say in the morning to him or her? The look on our face when we get in the car? How we greet them on the phone?

Can you imagine the difference it would make in their day if we greeted them like we were really, really glad to see them? When we are greeted in this way our personal sense of self-worth increases and we feel valued.

An example is the prodigal son. "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him & kissed him" Luke 15:20 This young man probably did not expect this scenario and he no doubt felt loved and treasured.

Our challenge for today? Lets think about our greetings.....it doesn't have to be dramatic every time, just choose love.

I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. Psalm 119:30

Homecoming

Last night 6 extra young ladies stayed here to get ready for Homecoming Coronation...you shoulda witnessed the chaos. There was pizza, ice ceam, sodas, laughter, dresses, shoes & more dresses. They had a really great time. Early this morning there were showers, hair dryers, curling irons & dresses! 4 of the girls were running for Queen & 3 were here for support. It was great! Paige didn't win and I was a little bit sad for her but it was really awesome to see them all so happy for the one that won.  That really showed character in my opinion.

I need me my camera back!

I've loaned it to my daughter for photography class and I miss it!

I took a great class with it last week & learned all about ISO, white balance, aperture, etc. Finally! I've only had it for almost 2 years! I better get using it before I forget what I learned.

I haven't taken a single picture with it for 10 days! :(

The leaves are changing so beautifully right now....so many photo ops out there!

Happy-Day-After-Your-Birthday Ann!

Love You! And thanks for requesting carrot cake!

The Love Dare, Day 8

Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire.

Song of Solomon 8:6

According to this book there are two kinds of jealousy:

Legitimate based on love and illegitimate based on envy. Illegitimate envy is rooted in selfishness. I see this happening in the world definitely. Like when someone gains a promotion or gets a gift that you wish you'd have gotten. Instead of being jealous, we need to be happy for the other person! Rejoice for them!

Envy leads to fighting, quarreling, and every evil thing. James 3:16 & 4: 1-2.

When we get jealous of those that live on our house, we are in trouble. It can really, really become a problem.

Love is not selfish and puts others first, it refuses to let jealousy in. Love leads you to celebrate a success rather than resent it. It's time to let love win. Allow your mate's successes to draw you closer instead of further apart.

With all this being said, I'm not sure what to think. I'm not in any way jealous of Steve. He's amazing & I'm proud of every single accomplishment he makes. His successes are mine too!

Today's dare is to determine to become your spouses biggest fan and to reject any thoughts of jealousy. To help you set your heart in the right place, take yesterday's list of negative attributes and burn it. Then share with your spouse how happy you are about a success he recently enjoyed.

For me, this is hard. My list doesn't contain anything that has anything to do with jealousy. My list has to do with my own issues. But I'm going to burn it anyway & pray to recognize those things on my list as my problem and to deal with my own irritability & impatience when he annoys me! LOL.

There is a great article by Sue today:

 http://praiseandcoffee.blogspot.com

Another amazing video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA

You may have seen this, but click on this link anyway & enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVJqRLU3J0I&feature=related

These are a few of my favorite girls.........

The Love Dare, Day 7

Love believes all things, hopes all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7

This chapter is so great....it talks about having 2 rooms in our hearts: appreciation & depreciation.

In the appreciation room on the walls are written all kinds of good things about your spouse. They are the things we've discovered about him or her over the years. They are written early  in our relationships, all things good & honorable. As we dwell on these things our appreciation for our spouse grows.

The other room is the depreciation room. On these wall are written the things that annoy & bother us. Things that we write when we are frustrated and hurt. There can be some very hateful things on the walls in this room where emotional injuries fester & ammunition is kept for the big next fight. People fall out of love here. The more time you spend here the more your heart devalues your spouse. These things may be true, but so are the things in the appreciation room.

Love chooses to not live in this room. We need to decide to stay out of this room other than to glance in to see what you should be praying about for your spouse.

Go to the appreciation room and stay there. Meditate on the positives. The book says as we do this we will learn many more wonderful character qualities about our spouse. We must reign in our negative thoughts & focus on the positive attributes of our spouse.

Today's dare is to get two sheets of paper. On one, write out positive things about our mate & on the other one, write down negative things. Put these away in a private place, there is a plan for these later. During the day...pick a positive attribute from your list & thank your spouse for having this characteristic.

Good luck with this...as I try to write things that are negative, all I can see is that the things that annoy me are really my problem. I plan on taking a couple of days with this one....I want to think it through.

Happy Birthday Maya! You are 6 months old today!

Good Morning!

It's been ages since I posted! Sorry! It's been a chaotic couple of weeks. We had a nice long Labor day weekend at the lake with Paige, Brandon & Malarie. It was so nice and relaxing. And we actually took the boat out for the first time this summer. How sad is that?

My aunt was here on vacation so we spent a lot of time with her and my mom, my cousins & their kids across the lake. We ate, played games, watched Big Brother... LOL! 

We also celebrated my sweet grandma's 80th birthday. She's such an important person in my life. I love her so much.

And.....we celebrated the 2nd Annual Benny & Joon Day by having a showing! Not quite the same, but fun anyway!

Monday & Tuesday brought funerals of people that will be greatly missed. A friend from church and also my good, good friend's dad. Two people who were amazing men.

This last weekend we all went to Great Falls for my dad's memorial. He didn't want a funeral at all but he did tell me that we could do a luncheon, so we did. We had tons of food and lots of sweet people came to celebrate with us. We played the slide show and everyone loved it. It was good to see cousins, aunts & uncles, and friends.  We have an amazing group of friends there that ran the kitchen & did all the clean up for us. You know who you are girls......I cannot ever thank you enough for what you've done for Diane, Sara & I through this hard, hard time.  

Steve has had a handful of doctor's appointments & tests done again & things are looking good. He has been slowly but surely starting to feel better. Praise God!

So, that's my life in a nutshell over the last couple of weeks. Crazy but good. :)

Now on with the Love Dare!

The Love Dare, Day 6

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. Proverbs 16:32

Oh my heck....I needed to read this chapter before 4:45pm today, that's for sure. I'm going straight back to reading the chapter the night before. Day Six will continue over to tomorrow, thank-you-very-much.

The chapter talks about getting irritated & offended. About how a loving wife is not overly sensitive & cranky but exercises emotional self-control. Stress & selfishness are 2 reasons people get irritable.

I've already established that I'm selfish....and I guess you know that we've had and are having a wee bit of stress around here. So...no wonder, right?

Love will lead us to forgive instead. When we make loving decisions it will ultimately lower our stress levels. The Dare today is to CHOOSE to react to tough circumstances in our marriages in loving ways instead of with irritation. And since I didn't read this until this afternoon, I call a do-over...I get to try to apply this one tomorrow.

Yesterday I was looking for an opportunity to ask Steve about what 3 things about me or that I do that irritate him. When the timing was right and I asked him, do you know what he said????? He said "nothing irritates me". Wow! Umm Hmm. I burst out laughing & so did he. Then he told me he couldn't think of anything right then. So I told him that when he does notice something, he needs to let me know, but NOT AT THE MOMENT IT WAS HAPPENING. So we'll see. Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen but I resolve to take it like a big girl. After all, I asked. Isn't my husband good at answering loaded questions? LOL.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

I got a beautiful gift the other day

My Dad's sister, my Aunt Jean made an amazing DVD of my Dad's life in pictures put to music. I finally got up enough courage to watch it with Paige & Steve last night.  It's about 30 minutes long, and so wonderful. We are going to play it at the memorial luncheon we're having in a few weeks. I'm very glad I got to watch it now before we play it there, it just about did me in. I wish I could share it on here but I have no idea how. It's simply......beautiful. And I needed a good cry.

The Love Dare, Day 5

He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be reckoned a curse to him. Proverbs 27:14

Directly quoted from the book: "The bottom line is that genuine love minds it's manners."

Today the dare is to ask our spouse to tell us three things that cause him or her to be uncomfotable or irritated with you. WITHOUT attacking or justifying our behavior.

UMMMM. Can I just skip a day? I DO NOT want to do this one!

The Love Dare, Day 4

So I got to thinking, maybe I shouldn't be giving soooo much info from The Love Dare Book. It is, after all, copyrighted.  But I still want to share, it's just going to be less descriptive.

Day 4 is about being thoughtful:

How precious also are your thoughts to me...How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. Psalm 139:17-18

Remeber how thoughtful we were at the beginning of our realtionships? We all need someone to be thoughful towards us, it makes us feel loved. Are we listening to each other? Are we thinking before speaking????? 

Ouch!

With no other agenda, ask your spouse if there is anything you could do for them today.

  

The Love Dare, Day 3

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important that yourselves. Phil 2:

Whatever you put your time, energy & money into will become more important to you. It's hard to care for something you are not investing in. Along with restraining from negative comments, buy your spouse something that says "I was thinking of you today".

This one is super hard for me. Steve just doesn't care a single bit about anything you could "buy" him. I'm sure something will come to mind eventually, but he just isn't into "stuff" at all.  Hmmmm.......

This chapter is interesting, it talks at length about being selfish. It says its a trait we hate in others but justify in ourselves. How true is that may I ask? It says even generous actions can be selfish if the motive isn't right. If we do good things to manipulate our spouse, we are being selfish.

According to 1 Cor 13:5 "love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of wrong". Yikes. I did have an "I'm trying clean the bathroom irritated moment a little bit ago. But I recognized it at least. :)

He liked dinner....we both agreed that its really nice to eat at home. :)

The Love Dare, Day 2

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Eph 4:32

In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse today, do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.

Hmmm......maybe I'll cook him dinner! Sadly, he'd NEVER expect that! Maybe I'll even cook something with a little effort added! Seriously, this dare won't be too hard today, I like to do the "little things" for him. But something unexpected?

Yesterday was easy, I'm feeling pretty good about this right now, but I've looked ahead a little in the book. All the dares aren't so easy. I guess that's why it's called a challenge, right?