Trusting

Hello dear blogging world!

I'm just popping in to say a few things about this evening's women's Biblestudy. I must say it was rather wonderful, not to mention it really made you think, which I love!

We're still studying Isaiah and it's amazing how much there is in that one book. Every chapter teaches you something new and shows you something that you need to dwell on.

This evening's study really focused on trusting God and learning that no matter what happens nothing else in our lives can help us or give us the strength that we need besides the Creator God. I think so often we all forget to trust in God for all things. Little things happen that are a concern to us but we almost have this attitude that God wouldn't care about that so we shouldn't come to Him about it. What a mistake to be thinking like that! Coming to our Lord with things that seem small is what takes away our burdens and helps us find the solutions to our problems. What a comfort right?!
I think people can take this the wrong way though too. Some have the attitude that they should just throw up their hands, sit back, and let God take care of it all because they're "trusting in Him." That's not what trusting in Him means. God gives us what we need to live. We need to be grateful for all that He has provided for us and use those things to always glorify Him and carry out His will. There are so many people out there who try to tell us how to think and how to live and often it sounds really good, but we have got to stay grounded in our faith. Our minds cannot be swept around with ever false wind that blows about. God gave us His Word through the Bible and that is where we need to stay grounded. Looking to Scripture should be our first response during times of trouble and joy. God is so easily taken for granted and I don't ever want to do that. Would we ever find any comfort without Him? I know I wouldn't.

It was definitely an interesting discussion tonight and one that really made you pause and take a step back to look at yourself. It made you ask, "what could I be doing to make sure my faith doesn't waver?"

Anyways I just thought it was really good and wanted to share it with all of you.
Have a wonderful night and tomorrow!
Hugs and kisses

Song of the moment

I don't know if any of you have ever listened to The Weepies, but I love them. They're very folksie and relaxing. One of their songs, Citywide Rodeo, is one of my favorites right now. It's so beautiful and I love the words. I would definitely recommend looking it up.


"Citywide rodeo, you set on the stage
Where all the clowns will go when they feel their age
I know that you think you're not good for anything
The world makes you feel so small
Get on your wooden horse
This is a ride, not a fight
No need to save face, say goodnight, Grace
"Good night, Grace."
There's dust on the stadium seats, there's dust in your hair
You wonder how fast you'll go when you hit the air
And oh, isn't it strange how things can change you?
And oh, isn't it plain that some things unname you
So don't ask anybody else.
Citywide rodeo, step into your car
Look up at the indigo and pick out your star."

It's me

Ok so I'm finally doing this! and I promise I didn't cheat, it just took me awhile to get around to it. =)

Here are the rules!!

Take a picture of yourself right now.

No primping or preparing.

Just snap a picture.

Load the picture onto your blog.

Tag some people to play along.

Now to tag some people,

I tag Ashlei

Susan,

and Rachel.

Have fun ladies! Can't wait to see your gorgeous faces!

One of those days

So yesterday I was kind of in a bad mood. I didn't really have a reason to be, but all the same I was easily irritated and annoyed with so many things and people. When I finally got home from work and had dinner I went to my room with a cup of coffe and tried to give myself an attitude adjustment.
I was sitting there at my desk and I looked and saw my Bible. I automatically picked it up and started just flipping pages waiting for something to pop out at me. One verse that caught my eye was Psalm 55:22
"Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall."

One of my favorites that I read again is from Matthew 6.
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

As I read these verses my stressed and troubled attitude seemed to slip away. I was reminded of the day in the park with Talia and Jessica. They had both had stressful days and we simply sat on a blanket and read scripture and that was enough to calm their spirits. Isn't it beautiful?

The birds verse will always remind me of Ashlei. She was the one who first really brought it to my attention and it has been a comfort to me ever since.

I will end with this verse form Proverbs 27.
"Ointment and perfume delight the heart and the sweetness of a friend gives delight by hearty counsel."
That is oh so true.
It was so relaxing and wonderful to be sitting there in the quiet and being able to read the scripture without interruption. I don't do it near enough.

California Dreamin'

I have been the queen of bad bloggers lately and I don't have an excuse, but this blog is filled with wonderful things so hopefully you all will let me off the hook. =)

A week ago today I was still in California. At this exact time a week ago I was sitting in the library with Ashlei reading a book about ghosts and hauntings. It was quite wonderful.
My entire trip can be described with the word wonderful and many other adjectives that all stem from that word.
I arrived on a Thursday night. Jeremy was there to pick me up from the airport and it took us about two hours to get back to the house where Talia and Emma were waiting up for us. Now I had dyed my hair red the night before I came and I wasn't quite sure about it yet and according to Talia, neither was Emma. This is what she had to say about it. "Mommy I'm really excited to see Auntie Lydia but I'm kind of scared of her hair." Well I am happy to say that once she actually saw it she wasn't scared of it and actually liked it. haha
You have no idea how excited and happy I was to see Talia again! I always miss our sister time and having two weeks ahead of us filled with nothing but sister time was glorious.
The next day I was woken up by two little girls with crazy hair and big smiles. Annabelle was on top of me in a moment showering me with kisses. Oh how lovely! I spent that first morning getting to be an Auntie, which is always delightful!
A little bit later Ashlei came to get me! She had just gotten back from the beach so she looked beachy and beautiful. She took me out to lunch at Chilis and we went and saw Twilight at the dollar theater. After that we went to Starbucks, which was just one of many trips to be taken there.
That was my first full day in California and it was great! Don't you think so?
The lovely Ashlei and myself

Talia and I also went to starbucks, along with renting movies. Some filled with fairies for the girls, ghosts for Jeremy, and Johnny Depp for us.
My days were filled with chats, playing princess, drinking coffee, watching supernatural, and just having a good time.

One very special even that happened while I was there was the birth of Rosalie Hope!! I was so blessed to be able to be apart of this! Rosalie is gorgeous and Talia is once again a beautiful new mother. Nothing beats snuggling with a tiny baby and Rosalie is such a good little cuddler. She loves snuggling against your neck.

Me with Rosalie on her very first day in the world!

Hanging with my girls at the marketplace! aren't they lovely?

Another very special thing that happened was that Ashlei took me to Disneyland! It was her surprise to me and as it was my very first time, you can imagine that I was pretty excited! Disneyland is amazing. You can't help but feel like a child when you're there. I was so excited about everything and it's so beautiful there. I was able to experience everything, from the lagoons in Pirates to flying over London in Peter Pan's Flight. We talked to Crush from Finding Nemo and were almost hit by a giant rolling rock in Indiana Jones. We experienced Snow White's Scary Adventures and the Wild Ride of Mr. Toad. We fell down the rabbit hole with Alice in Wonderland and were face to face with ghosts in the Haunted Mansion. It was fabulous being there with Ashlei! Thank you so much!!

The rest of my trip was spent holding my new niece, playing with the girls, talking with Talia, being a silly sister, reading scripture in the park, watching the trees blossom, sipping tea, and many many other lovely things.

Spending time with Talia is always so wonderful. Anyone who knows her knows how sweet and thoughtful she is. She's encouraging and beautiful. I loved every minute with her.

And getting to see Ashlei again was amazing. I needed my best friend time and no time ever seems long enough, but i'm so grateful for the time we got. There's no better person to grab a coffee with and share old memories. We did everything from watch the gorgeous Dean Winchester to get yelled at by boys who obviously never had mothers. It was all lovely, absolutely lovely.

I got my sister time.....

My best friend time...

And even some brother-in-law time....

Don't ask...lol



And of course some auntie time!!!

I loved it all! Thanks you guys for making it so special!

No, I didn't die...

I just haven't felt like blogging lately, but I'm here now!
Well not too too much has been going on. I've been busy working and all that good stuff but two weeks ago a friend from South Dakota flew in and she along with three other friends came to visit Jerusha and I! It was so fun! In the morning we hung out at Starbucks and went to Wendys for an early lunch. Jerusha and I then had to work, but later that evening we all went to Olive Garden which as you know is always delicious!
I thought I would share some pictures with you because that's just what I do. =)

Anna, Liz, and I hanging out at the office.
Anna and Liz were very skilled at building with the blocks. HAHA

Christian, Liz, and I squished in the backseat of Anna's car. It's supposed to be only three people. but we fit four cuz we're cool. =)

Me with the lovely Anna at Wendys!

Liz and Jerusha workin it at Starbucks.

Yes I was sitting on her lap in public and we were having a great time! lol

I love my Liz!!

You know what? I get to see her again, along with Jenna, Aaron, and Christian tomorrow morning!! I am seriously so excited!! Good times shall be had I'm sure. You'll be seeing pictures of that day as well. How can I resist sharing them with you all?

On other news...9 days till California!!!! No words can describe how excited I am for this! Technically it's 8 days because I leave a week from tomorrow, btu I thought I would count the actual day I leave because I won't get to Talia's till probably like 11 at night. Anyways YAY!

So how are all of you??

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Books I have read and books I have yet to read

I've been quite the reader lately and I thought I would share some of my favorites with you!
One of my all time favorites is Dracula by Bram Stoker. Seriously some of the best writing I have ever seen. (ok so I got these pictures form amazon.com and that is why alot of these have that stupid "look inside" thing at the top. =))
I would recommend this, but I also know alot of people who don't like it. They think it's hard to read or they just think it's too dark, but I love it. So you cna pick if you want to read it or not.
Another amazing read is The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. This book is so mysterious and it kept me enthralled until the end!

Everyone loves Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte right? I think it's fabulous and if you haven't read it yet, you definitely should!

Currently I have been going through the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's a pretty big undertaking actually. There are so many different stories and a few novels thrown in there too. I have to say that I'm very fond of my Mr. Holmes. I love getting up and reading his mysteries with breakfast! Definitely another collection I would recommend to you all.

I also have a reading list. The following books are the ones I still have to read. At the top is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I'm very excited to read this because it's one of Ashlei's favorite books and she's recommended it many times to me.

Another one on the list is The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I've heard this is also a good one so I'm excited for this one as well.

And last but not least is the complete collections of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte. My dad gave me this beautiful, huge, hardback book for christmas that has all of their stories. How great is that?! I'm really looking forward to getting started on that!

As you can see I really love the classics! I'm open to anything though. Do any of you have any recommendations? I would love to hear what your favorites are!

I hope all of you had a great week and have a great weekend!

xoxoxo

More Music

I have been such a bad blogger and I apologize. I just have not been inspired to write anything as of late and this one might be a little disappointing considering I'm just talking about music once again.

My new purchase is the Gavin Degraw, Chariot cd. It's pretty cool because it consists of two cds with the same songs on it but one cd is the stripped versions of all the songs. I love it!
I would definitely recommend it if you're into him.

On a different note, I am soon to buy my plane ticket to California!

I'll be going sometime in March so that I'll be there when little Rosalie Hope is born! You have no idea how excited I am to see everybody! I'll get my sister time with Talia, my best friend time with Ashlei, some brother-in-law time with Jeremy, and auntie time with Emma, Annabelle, and soon Rosalie!

So yeah that's the new excitement in my life.

How are all of you?

xoxoxo

Lift Me Up

Kate Voegele's new song "Lift Me Up" was introduced to me by Ashlei and I have got to say, I love it! I seriously listen to it like four times a day.
You must listen to it!
It's beautiful and I love the lyrics.

http://free.napster.com/player/?play_id=24459416&type=track

Fabulousness

Fabulousness is a word which should be in every girl's vocabulary. At least I think so. =)
Anyways I've made some pretty fabulous purchases as of late and I thought I would share them with you!

This first one I did not actually buy. It was sent to me by the wonderful Ashlei and I absolutely love it! I would highly recommend it to all.



Ok so for months now I've been looking for sweater boots because I love them and I had never had any success. So sad. Well Jerusha and I were at Walmart the other day and we were just walking around in the shoe section and there they were!! I practically screamed. what's really cool about them is that they really have two looks. You can have them tall with big buttons along the side or you can fold them down for a shorter look and have little buttons along the side. See..look.




I had also been looking for a new wallet just because I wanted one. =) I went into Forever 21(the best store ever!) and was looking through their bins of things and I saw this one! I loved everything about it! Purple is fantastic don't you think?

Oh and I can't say no to pretty much any bright color of nail polish. It makes me happy. Hot pink is especially a favorite. So of course when I saw this, I had to have it.

Last but not least, my new zebra print hoops. Jerusha actually bought these for me because she's so nice! I love love love them!

Pure fabulousness right?

Tonight...

I am feeling restless. Do you ever get that feeling? I don't know what to do. Usually I head straight to my Sherlock Holmes book and curl up on a chair somewhere and read, but tonight even that doesn't sound good. It's like I can't be calm. I don't understand it.
I'm sitting here drinking tea on my bed with the laptop and you would think that would make me feel peaceful, but it doesn't.
Thriving Ivory is doing what they can to help as they come out of my computer speakers, and that does help a bit.
I want to have someone here with me to just talk and be restless with me. At the same time I almost want to be alone. I mean I chose to come in here by myself and leave everyone else out in the living room, but still, some sort of company would be nice. I swear I'm crazy. I don't know what it is. I guess it's just one of those nights.
Any tips on how to calm down and find some peace?

Office Moments

The chiropractic office can be pretty boring but it definitely has it's entertaining moments. I thought I would share a few of them with you because they made me laugh. =)

We have a patient who often pays us with alot of one dollar bills and that always cracks me up, so one morning as he handed over the cash I said, "you know I'm a little worried about what your occupation is." He looked at me and then said ,"well that's just my job. I'm a waiter, I get tips in one dollar bills....and a little stripping on the side." He was so serious about it that it made me laugh!

There's this other guy who comes in who tells us that he has to be careful what he wears when he comes because he feels Jerusha and I are always critiquing his clothing choices. I'll admit that's sometimes true. hehe But he usually comes in with either sweat pants on and a beer t-shirt or basketball shorts and a sweatshirt. We made fun of him for that for awhile and then one day he walked in and was wearing dressy jeans, a button-up shirt, and a leather jacket. "Now you can't pick on me," he said as he walked in. haha that's funny.

Today there's this guy here who is fixing one of the printers and it's so hilarious because he randomly just yells stuff out and he is almost always talking to himself(loud enough that I can hear). I hear him sya these weirds things and it's seriously really hard to not bust out laughing. One time I did laugh at something and he came out to the front room to ask if I was crying. haha he said he figured I must have been laughing instead. Just a little bit ago he came out to throw is gum away and he looks at me and says, "that gum is officially holy." I gave him a questioning look and he went on to say, "because I chewed the hell out of it." Talk about random. Well he thought he was funny anyways. Oh and apparently our bathroom is pretty fascinating. He came out of it and yelled all the way to the front desk, "that's so cool!! the light and the fan comes on when you open the door!" Pure excitement right there folks. I'm so glad we could show him just how high tech we really are.

Anyways thats just a few of the things that go on here. Hope you enjoyed that!

My New Obsession

Thriving Ivory. This band is absolutely wonderful. You have no idea. I am in love with their music, their lyrics, and Mr. Stoope's voice. Check them out if you've never heard them before!!

"Late again
Guilt free in the middle of the pouring rain
Hair's a mess she said
Would you mind if I spent the night alone?

3am she's up said
It's not you and it never was
Packs her things she's gone where?
That place I'll never know
Somewhere in the middle of the pouring rain

I wake up late
Sometimes I wish I never woke up at all
And I contemplate
I guess maybe I'm better off alone

I'm gonna leave this place
I guess winter got the best of us this year
And the sky's a mess
I'll run out in the middle of the pouring rain

When the day is done and you're not here again
When the day is done and you're not here again
When the day is done and you're not here again

I'll run out in the middle of the pouring rain
God speed in the middle of the pouring rain
I'll find love in the middle of the pouring rain" - Day of Rain

Time Spent With Family

It's been quite a while since I've blogged but I have the excuse that all of my family was here and that makes for quite the hectic time!
But I'm here now and you get to hear and see some of the good times we had when they were all here!
Talia, Jeremy, the girls, and Elijah arrived first on Sunday evening. I was at the airport with my parents and my excitement was seriously intense as I waited for them to get in! They finally all did arrive and we packed up into the vehicle and drove home..the good times then commenced!
I told Jerusha that she could do a more detailed blog of all that we did since I would using lots of the pictures so I'm not going to be saying a whole lot.
I will say that there was so much joy, fun, silliness, and just good family times this past week that I was almost bursting with it! It was absolutely fabulous.
One low point of the week was that I got the flu while they were all here, but it lasted for a relatively short time so I suppose it could have been worse.
Now, on to the pictures!!
Precious Annabelle!

Miss Emma Joy!

=) who knows

Yes, we really are that weird.

My brother!

Sexy can I

Happy New Years! Time for champagne!

Aren't they adorable??

Mirror shot!

Baby Brayden!

I love my sister!

She's cute

Can you say happy?

So those are some of the pictures, I might be putting some of my dad's up later! I was surprised at how few pictures I actually took, but I guess the camera is sometimes just forgotten when you're busy being with family. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed!

How was everyone's New Year's? Did anyone make any resolutions? I know I have a couple.

Later bloggers! XOXO