I like...

k, so I love love love this clip! It's sooo cute and funny. haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR3rK0kZFkg

Sometimes I wish I can be like her! Sometimes I do make a running list in my head of all of the things I love, which "My boys" (not the show - Rynie, James & Joey) usually tops my list. They're the best! BUT, I wish I could be like her every day because more often than not, I usually have a running list of things I DON'T like running through my head instead. God has blessed me with sooooo much to be thankful for, and I really, really shouldn't take that stuff for granted as often as I do. So, I guess I'll make my "I Like" list now!

I like my Ryan
I like my James
I like my Joey
I like my whole family
I like my paycheck
I like Ryan's paycheck even more
I LIKE MY WHOLE HOUSE! (CLAP!)
I like my couch
I like my pillows
I like my church family
I like babies
I like my FRIENDS
I like my work friends
I like my work doggies
I like my marriage
I like my weekends
I like my Savior
I like His promises
I like my future kids
I like my TV
I like all my shows
I like movies
I like the sunshine
I like buying little presents for my boys
I like leaving love notes in Ryan's drawer
I like my house stuff from Ross
I like my clean water supply
I like my Mexico family
I like my computer
I like my friends' kids
I like my Facebook
I like my Amazon.com & Ebay.com and Etsy.com
I like my Lyme prayer group
I like getting flowers
I like my birthday
I like Christmas
I like loving others
I like hugging my boys til they wiggle away from me
I like pictures that have captured great moments :)

I could go on foreverrrrrrr, so I guess I should stop for now. It feels so good to count my blessings! Thank you, God, for EVERYTHING you've given to me... above and beyond what I could have ever imagined.

Now I want to say something that I like - at least one thing - about the people I love (and they thankfully love me back, too!) In no particular order, by the way!

Rynie:
of course I could list a million things, but I'll try to keep it to a few. He's my BEST FRIEND. We laugh, argue, love, and live life together and I love every second of it. He mirrors God in that he's my provider and protector and he loves me unconditionally.

Jamesie:
What a special little boy he is! I've always told Ryan that we have a "special bond". He is an inspiration to me; he is joyful in situations that I would go crawl in a hole, but he keeps on dancing and smiling. He is a sweetheart and a snuggler. He is a comedian and adorable and loving as can be. I love his sweet face, his sweet kisses, and his beautiful spirit!

Nae:
God has blessed me with a wonderful friend who also happens to be my sister. :) She is a strong woman, a wonderful mother, a Godly example, a fun friend, a lover of beautiful things. She loves others in many ways, and has always been a great big sis for me to look up to.

Joeypie:
Sweet and flirtatious, playful, loves music and dancing, wild, and cute as can be! I love making farties on his neck and forcing kisses upon him. I love watching him dance, eat, sleep, everything! He's precious and full of energy!

Mom & Dad:
Very strong parents and great friends. They both work harder than anyone I know. My mom gives all of her strength and love to her children. My dad finds joy in giving words of encouragement and telling his girls how beautiful they are. They LOVE their grandchildren. :) They are wise and strong and have put all their trust in Him who has sustained them the past 30 years!

Creasy and Nory:
Carrisa has always been a wonderful and very giving friend to me. We've been through it all, pretty much, and we still love each other and consider each other Family. She is very generous, fun-loving, a great mommy, and loves to par-tay! I can go to her with my joys and my sorrows and she can understand them both. Nory is a sweet bundle of FUN. I love how she is not shy with others. I love her dance moves and the little words she's starting to say. I love to hold her and kiss her and tickle her. She loves her mama and her mama loves her! She is playful and as sweet as can be!

Seth:
He is hard-working and a great leader to his family. He puts all of his energy into what he does and likes it all to be perfect. :) He is generous with his time and service to others. He is energetic and loves meeting new people and talking it up with old friends, too. He loves his wifey and his sweet boys and has always kept his faith strong in the Lord who has sustained him and his family for many years.


Tammy:
She is so generous and hard working. She has done a wonderful job raising her children. She is very loving and likes to show her love through quality time and gift giving. She has taught Ryan very valuable things and he is a wonderful man because of the great family he had growing up. She loves her son with her whole heart, and is very protective of her family and friends.


Jessica & Dusty:
They have both been friends of ours for EVER. Jessica is loyal and honest. She has a great sense of humor and a drive to succeed. She really gives it her all in whatever is set before her in life. She is inspiring in how hard she works and how well she cares for others. She seems very close to her family and loves her friends. She makes an effort to keep her relationships strong. I appreciate what a great friend she's been to me for many, many years and still counting! Dustin is a very unique friend and I feel blessed to have him in our lives. He brings a lot of humor to our lives (often disgusting, but funny nonetheless!), and I hate to love him / love to hate him! Haha! He is a jokester and is as boy-ish as can be. Deep down he is a very loyal friend and actually a very loving person! If he says "I hate you!" it really means "I love you"!!! He has always been there for us and his friends when we needed him. When James was born and they lived in Sacramento, Dustin and Jessica were a great support to Nae & Seth. When we bought our house, Dustin helped us paint and move for hours and did a great job, too! He is hardworking and is very loyal to his friendships.

Carla & Tones:
Tones is also a unique friend and I love that he is great friends with Ryan. He has a drive to do well in anything he is involved in; work, friendships, writing, games. He is also a loyal friend (we have a lot of these!) and loves his wife and doggies very much! He has a sense of humor and loves playing games. Carla is such a servant and loves to love others! I always have fun with her whether we're shopping, seeing a movie, or just hanging out with the girls. She loves her husband and her friends, and gives her best in all that she does. I feel very loved and encouraged by her!

Adam & Ashley (And lil Lucy, too!)
We love these dear friends and wish they lived closer! They are brave and aren't scared to move, meet new people, try new things, take different jobs, and just LIVE LIFE. Adam has been friends of ours, especially Ryan's, for years and years. He has always been a great friend to both of us, and Ryan loves that he shares the same interests as him... mostly SPORTS! :) He is smart and works very hard and loves his family very much! Ashley is so pleasant to be around. She is funny, so sweet, and so easy going. I loved visiting her this summer and getting to spend time with just her and Lucy without our boys. :) She loves her family, too, and is so good at loving others!

Lance:
Another inspiration in my life; he knows he is blessed and works hard to be a good boy even when it's hard. He is blind to other people's faults and just loves them unconditionally. He is a wonderful uncle to his boys! He loves his doggie and his Best Friend, his Dad. :) He is very loving and social and likes to bless others. He is an artist! He likes to learn new things like guitar and different types of P.E. like jujitsu and stuff like that. Some times may have been difficult growing up, but I am so thankful that I've had him in my life to help me learn patience and unconditional love, as well as accepting people who are "Different". :)

Teryn:
She has been SUCH a blessing in our lives, starting with Nae and then to the rest of our familiy, especially me and my mom. She LOVES her Savior and is not hesitant to soak herself in His love. She is so loving to her friends and especially her family. She is easy to talk to and will tell you like it is if she needs to, which I love. She is honest. She gives her all to her family and is a shining star of a mommy. Her boys are very loving and snuggly, and fun-loving and energetic! I love to see Lexi's smile! Daniel is a wonderful leader to his family and does a great job of loving on them. He has so much in common with Ryan and I wish they lived here so they could be BFFs!!!

Robin:
My WBF (work best friend)! She saves me from being stuck with just the stinky boys and my boss! She lets me vent and talk about everything that stresses me out, and understands all of it. She is so much fun to talk to and hang out with. I love our walks, and IMing from 5 feet away and talking crap and making jokes. She loves her friends and family and, again, is very loyal to her relationships. She is hard-working and takes her job seriously. She doesn't put up with BS. She knows where to find great deals. She has a great husband who just adores her and he, like Seth, loves meeting new people. He doesn't take anyone's BS either! I'm very blessed to have Robin in my life, and have someone pleasant to talk to each work day!

Housewarming Party

We finally got around to having our housewarming party! This one was just family... we decided to have a separate family party since having everyone at once would be WAY too many people. There were 14 of us tonight counting us and also counting James & Joey. We planned this party for two weeks ago but I got a stomach bug the day before and had to cancel. :( But this time I was feeling much better. We had everyone come over at 7 and instead of having a whole meal or something, we just had ice cream sundaes. It was so yummy! I just bought a big tub of vanilla ice cream and then we had hot fudge, caramel sauce, nuts, cherries, crushed up oreos, mini m&ms, whipped cream and SPRINKLES! :) I think everyone enjoyed it. I bought some low-fat vanilla for Lance and my mom picked which toppings were appropriate for him. My mom also brought James some dairy free chocolate pudding (his fav) so that he didn't feel left out. He was sooo cute. So was Joey. Joey ran around our house screaming and laughing and being stinkin' cute. James soaked in all the love he got from me and all of the grandparents and great grandparents and everyone else. He's such a sweetie and he brings so much joy to my heart!

So we cleaned the house like crazy the last few days. It was a lot of work but I'm glad that we were kinda forced to clean everything at once and make everything look nice. Ryan helped me a lot and I was sooo thankful for his help. I really want it to stay clean and looking nice but we're doubting that it'll even be this way for 24 hours. haha! We have no one to blame, either, since we don't have any kids yet. But whatever. I also hung a few pictures and things like that to spruce up the house. I'm glad I had something to motivate me to do that, too. We also finally moved the treadmill and exercise bike out of the garage into our exercise room. Right now our house looks GREAT! Let's hope it lasts. I went around taking a bunch of pictures after everyone left (I should've taken a few more while people were HERE, but oh well.) Oh, we also found a couch on Craigslist and went to look at it on Thursday. We decided that we liked it a lot and it was a good deal so we picked it up today about 5 hours before the party. We LOVE it! It's a sectional type of couch so the main couch and the loveseat are connected, and this one also has a chaise lounge connected, too. It's exactly what we were looking for! Now we can relax on the couch and not be in each other's way. Also, tonight there was totally enough seating since about 6 people can fit on the couch comfortably, and you could fit 7 if you want to be pretty snuggly with your couch-mates. Our new area rug looked weird for some reason with the new couch so we moved it into our dining room under the dining table. I really like it in there! I think it'll look even better if/when we get a new table. Especially if we get it in a dark brown stain like we want.

Here are some pictures of our place:

(I used my cell phone camera so some of the pics aren't very awesome)

Our awesome new-to-us couch! (I claimed the chaise area for myself)

My parents got us this new table lamp that was on our "wishlist". :) So pretty!

Since we got the couch today, we didn't know what to do with our old one, so we put it in the extra room behind our kitchen near the back yard and now we have a 2nd "living room". I need to put our couch cover back on cuz that plaid-ness is pretty uggo. If you know anyone who wants to buy this or maybe just have it for free, let me know. I guess they guys had to take our door off to get it into our house so it'll be a bit of a hassle to get it out of here and into someone else's house. It's HUGE! And with the couch cover it's not so ugly. If you take the back blue pillows off it's seriously like the size of a twin bed.

Here's our bedroom with the bedding that I LOVE and some new paintings I got from Ross.

Here are the flower paintings up close. They match our room sooo well.

My dad came over the other day and hung our new black mirror in our black-and-white themed bathroom. I love it! (Still very in love with my shower curtain, too!)

This is our exercise room. treadmill, stationary bike, TV, and weighted hoola-hoop. I also have a stability ball I need to blow up and a couple of resistance bands and 5 lb weights. I hope we actually make use of this room. We definitely need to especially if we're going to Hawaii in November!!!

I decided to just get some off-white sheer curtains that will match anything. These ones were from Ross and were only like 8.99 for the two panels and the "scarf" that goes along the top. I got 3 so i only spent like under 30 bucks to cover 3 windows. :) Yay!

This is our little accent table from Target, and the wooden decorative square peices are also from, you guessed it, ROSS! What, am I Carla??! I'm JUST now realizing how much stuff we have from there. I at least got these like 3 years ago so I didn't just go on a Ross shopping spree all at once. hahaha!

This was a wedding gift from Carrisa - it's a black and white picture with two simple flowers. I really like it. It looks great in our hallway. I would hang it in our black and white bathroom but I think it's too big. I think it looks really nice where it is.

That's it! I hope you enjoyed the pics! We had a great party and I'm so, so thankful that we have such a loving family surrounding us, and such a great house too!