Our Thanksgiving

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We spent this year with Mackenzie's family, due to my family living in two other completely different states. Its just easier to stay here. We had a good time but I definitely miss Thanksgiving with my family. I realized and told Mackenzie that since I moved to Oregon, over 5 years ago, I haven't been able to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. It's weird but its never really hit me until this year. We talked about trying to visit either my Dad or Mom next Thanksgiving.

We are however, going to spend Christmas with my Dad and the rest of my family in California which will be wonderful! I can't wait! 

Anyway, on to this year's Thanksgiving. We had a great time! 

We celebrated and feasted at Mackenzie's aunt's house. This was the place near "Happy Lane" that I posted about yesterday. Unfortunately, it was pouring down rain and we were unable to get a picture underneath the "Happy Lane" sign. 

Here's Sharon and I! And I can't believe I'm posting this picture below but it's the result of my husband just snapping the camera before we were ready. I cracked up when I saw the look on my face!

How does this happen? Sharon looks fine but I don't know what's going on with me! It gave us a great laugh!

Finally, here's a picture of the 4 brothers. I'll tell ya, it was like pulling teeth to try to get them to scoot closer together to take one, just one picture!! They look great though! 

Today, my husband is planning to hang our Christmas lights and I'm going to start decorating! We may even get a tree! 

Have a blessed day!

Thank you!

Ladies, thank you so much for all of the encouragement and support you gave me on my last post! It was so comforting to know that I'm not the only one going through a dry spot or who has gone through a dry spot in their walk. In the back of my mind, I knew I wasn't the only one, but it helps to hear it!

God is truly working my life. I've been able to meet with him almost every day this week! Praise Him! Also, I've notice He's helped me at my job. I have a job that can be extremely emotionally tiring and frustrating. He's helped me to have a calmness at work and also has helped me to "leave work at work"! How awesome!


I also wanted to share with you about a concert that my husband and I recently put on. Over a year ago, my husband and I created an electronic-style worship CD.I wrote a post about it that you can read, here. Some of the songs were remixes of contemporary worship songs. The others, were ones that we wrote together. My husband does the amazing work with all the instrumentals and some vocals and I do the main vocals. Since we got married last October, we haven't been able to play much. This past summer, we played at a youth event and at the end of October, we played a concert at our church with another band.

I've got to say, Mackenzie and I work ourselves up for every event! We do a lot of practicing before the event, but we are always nervous! Once the show is over, we have so much energy and want to do it again! Its funny how things work that way. We truly enjoy playing music together. Especially music that praises God. Its just hard, in our busy schedules, to find time to play!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from our concert that Sharon took.

If you would like to hear snippets of our music, we're on itunes. Our band is called Voice to Spirit (the idea behind this is our "voices" are singing praises to God)and our CD title is "Songs for a Broken City."

Here we are before the concert

Mackenzie's Grandpa Leonard, myself, Mackenzie, and Mackenzie's brother Hayden.

Grandpa Leonard, myself, Sharon, Mackenzie!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

My Hubby's Favorite Cookie

Oatmeal Raisin has always been one of my husband's favorite cookies. So, I decided to make them for him. He likes his cookies soft and chewy, so I went on my mission to find the softest cookie recipe.

Courtesy of Allrecipes.com, I think I found a good one!

In a large bowl, cream together until smooth, 1/2 cup softened butter, 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 eggs, and 1 tsp vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Slowly turn the flour mixture into the wet mixture.

Then, stir in 1 cup raisins and 3 cups rolled or old-fashioned oats.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on to ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 9-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes before transferring to baking sheets. Enjoy!

Yum! They turned out soft and chewy. Best of all, they got my husbands stamp of approval!

Seeds to Herbs Part 1

A few weeks ago, I received a special gift in the mail from my Mom.

This sweet little herb garden kit! I was so excited! I hope to have a large garden when we buy a stick built home and I possibly may get to have a small garden at the home we are living in now. This herb kit will get me started in the right direction.

The kit comes with 8 different herbs. Basil, parsley, chives, cilantro, oregano, dill, thyme, and sage. It also comes with a wooden labeling stick for each herb, a chart that shows what food each herb goes well with and another charting stating some facts about gardening with the herbs - sunlight, etc.

Here are the seeds up close.

I went and bought a rectangular pot, six smaller pots, and potting soil. I planted the seeds and watered them! Now, it's just time to wait. I hope I did everything right. If you have any tips, I'd be willing to hear!!
I love cooking with fresh herbs. So I'm anxious to see how these seeds will do. I'm planning on doing a "part 2" of this to show you when the herbs have grown or are growing! :)

Have a blessed day!

Memorial Day Memories

I hope you all had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend! Ours was fairly busy but we had some time to relax when we joined Mackenzie's parents and brothers for camping Sunday night to Monday.

We left after we did worship at church...here we are excited to get to the campsite. One of the most amazing things about Oregon is that camping is a short drive away and you have many options to choose from. We drove about an hour or so to our campground.

When we arrived, Mackenzie's grandparents Jim and Alice were at the campsite for the day. Alice and Sharon were in the camper, Jim and Eric were out fishing and the other guys were just having a good time relaxing or carving things out of wood.

It was so nice to just take time to sit by the campfire and catch up.

Even Bailey (Eric and Sharon's dog) came along for the fun. Grayson set up this really neat dog run from one tree to another, so she wasn't just stuck in one spot. I think she really enjoyed being able to move around more.

Sharon and Eric...they looked so sweet holding hands that I wanted to capture the moment...however when asked to hold hands again, Eric felt like having a bit of fun! hmm I wonder where my husband gets his comedian-style from?

Eric later took Alice, Sharon, and I around the lake for a short ride.

Here's Jim and Mackenzie watching us off. My husband cracks me up! He makes me laugh just about every day. It's so fun!

The weather was so ideal for camping. It was so beautiful. Sunny, warm, and not very much wind. We went to this same location about 2 years ago and the weather was much colder.

Here's Sharon enjoying the boat ride.

I love this man!

Grayson and Grandma Alice.

Hayden caring some wet pine. He carved a neat totem pole. I wish I got a picture of it!

Sharon and I...I was having a little too much fun. I wish the trip went longer!

Grayson working with the fire and Hayden carving his totem pole.

Grayson and Mackenzie having a great time together.

Here is our cozy little sleeping arrangement. Since we were only spending one night at the campsite, we decided to put the seats down in the back of Mackenzie's 4Runner, lay down a cozy mattress pad and spend the night in there! It actually wasn't too bad! Mackenzie was a little cramped due to his height but we both felt that it was pretty comfortable all in all.

Well, there you have it! A short but fun camping trip! I can't wait to go on more this summer. We plan to go on a 3 day long river float with Mackenzie's family this summer as well. I just love all this time we get to be outside and enjoy God's beautiful pictures that He paints for us!

Have a blessed day!

Baby Silas

Here are the pictures! I'm sorry I'm late in getting around to posting these...I said I would get them posted by Wednesday but I failed in that! :( I'm trying to get used to this new work schedule, taking an independent study class (can you say procrastination? haha), trying to be a good wife, and keep the house clean. Oh yeah and have somewhat of a social life! I know it can be done! I'm just trying to get organized with it all!

Anyway, presenting Baby Silas!


I love this picture of the sweet family.
He was born on Sunday (Mother's Day)! Baby, Momma and Daddy are all doing so well! Due to the c-section, Alisha is still in the recovery process but she's making so much great progress and got to go home with Silas on Wednesday! I've been trying to see them as much as I can!

Here's Erick with his mom coming out to tell us all "It's a Boy!" He was beaming with joy!

Getting swaddled and ready to hold, 6 pounds 5 ounces.

Here's Grandma getting to know her new grandson.


The happy family! Can you believe how much hair he has? So cute! Hope you all have a great day! I'm planning on visiting them after work today...gotta get my baby fix!

Late Easter Celebration

Last Sunday, Mackenzie and I went over to his aunt and uncle's (Sharon's side) to celebrate Easter. They asked to celebrate a week late due to the fact that a boy their daughter Whitney is seeing/courting, was in town for a visit. They wanted us all to meet him. He was such a sweet guy and seemed perfect for Whitney.

We really enjoy spending time with Mackenzie's Mom's side of the family. They are such wonderful, caring, God-loving people. We've been really blessed by all of them and I've had such a great time getting to know them all better.

Here is some of the group (mainly the kids) getting ready to go on the Easter egg hunt. It was fun hiding the eggs in unsuspecting places!

Filling their plates with delicious food!

Later we took a walk down to a near by, public, football field to watch some of the guys play.

My husband decided to ride a bike next to us while we were walking. He started doing a bunch of funny tricks.

He makes me laugh!
This is a quality that I really love about him and I know that he will always keep me laughing.

The three sisters, Sharon, Kathi, and Kelli.

We saw these 3 VW Bugs lined up on our way down and I just had to take a picture. I love how vintage and rusty looking they are. It's my husbands dream to fix one up someday.

Do you remeber the bike picture from my post on Monday? This was the day I rode with him. He told me he would give me a ride on his handle bars. I was a little apprehensive at first but had fun once I got on! I'd never actually ridden on handle bars before!

And finally, as I was talking with Sharon, Kathi, and Mackenzie, I noticed our shadows and though it would make a neat picture!

Have a blessed day!