Life Is A Story In The Making: January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Feeling the love in the Hall Household!

Oh, how I love to decorate!!! I love Valentines Day!

First reason I love it is that I get to decorate with my favorite colors. (as if you couldn't tell. =P Red is all over my house.) Second, its fun to see all the young people get so excited about giving teddy bears, flowers, and boxes of chocolate. Third, I love getting all dressed up and going out with your love. Not that you need that as an excuse but its just fun!

*Having fun with my silhouette sd*

*Teddy passed out while I crafted*

*In my Kitchen*

I was so excited when I found a Zebra Valentines Plate!

(Looks like someone already got in the Twizzlers LOL! That jar looks empty!)

**Ahem, Dad and Dan**

*My Funky Kitchen Table*

Made some quick pink flower napkins rings!

*Dining Room Table*

Had fun making this wreath for my door! When I moved in to my first apartment, my Grandma helped me start a tradition of hanging something for every holiday on my front porch. She gave me some of her collection and I've had a lot of fun displaying them.

Yay!!!! Almost finished to be hung on my front door. Just needs a few more things.

Going to get ready for bed! We just got back from our fun weekend getaway! We had a nice relaxing time! I'll post pictures sometime this week
Goodnight!!!!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Stormy Weather & Home Upgrades

Happy Friday :)

Hopefully everyone is well and with power after that crazy storm! We had heard on the news it was coming, and boy did it ever! Dan and I thought, "Perfect, we will get some house projects done while we are snowed in." So Dan went to Home Depot and Lowes and got the materials to crown mold our kitchen.
I'm sure everyone is in the same boat as us and has used that saying a time or two; "If only I had the money I could do all of this." Yes, I'm learning it's one project at a time!
Anyways, he brought the supplies home and I got groceries. Nope, neither one of us thought about 'Power Outages'. I just thought with a snow storm we'd be stuck in our cozy home, with the fire going and electricity! I wasn't quite expecting an ice storm! But the power went bye-bye and we went to stay with my parents where it was warm.

Front of our home...first snow!

Backyard

Dan & Ted snoozing

Ice!!

We had a wonderful time as a family, staying together for three days! I can truly say God has blessed me with a wonderful family! They are my best friends.We had lots of laughs, we relaxed and made great memories!

Gaming

Mark & Dan playing Xbox

Outside of my parents house

We had given our neighbor our number so he could call us when the power was back on. Finally, on Saturday, around noon, he called and we were able to go home and finish our project. I love how it turned out! It adds so much character to my kitchen!

The start...

Halfway there...

Complete!!

Also, when we went to Home Depot to get some more supplies I told Dan I wanted to change out our cabinet knobs in the kitchen ( they were silver and didn't match anything in my kitchen). I saw some basic black ones for $2.99 and added up how many I would need, it was like $75. I quickly changed my mind! I thought, hey I could spray paint these! So I went and grabbed two cans of .97 cents black spray paint and went to town. This is how they turned out!

Before After

I'm about done with my ramblings so I'll end this write. I need to be packing. My hubby is taking me for a little getaway to La Conner this weekend. I can't wait! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! If you are a Washingtonian you are probably enjoying the sunshine today as much as I am.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Two Weeks!

Well here we are, two weeks later, and I'm smiling...that's a good sign :-) They say the first week of a diet is hard, but it's going pretty good. Going from eating whatever you want to eating nothing that contains sugar or flour is quite the change! I think as I progress and find more recipes it will get easier.

I have lost 6lbs so far! YIPPEE!!!

I have yet to start counting calories or exercising. I will slowly add those things in. Just trying to just get my foods squared away first.

My hubby is doing this with me, that's something we agreed on before I started. I cleaned out my cabinets and fridge of everything I couldn't have. I told him if we went out to eat he could order whatever he wanted, but please don't bring anything home! He knew when I made dinner it would be this no flour, no sugar thing. Thank God I dont have a picky husband so that part has been no problem. We definitely have had some laughs though because he has cheated most of the two weeks and he already looks like he has lost weight, haha! Tell me how that's fair! How in the world do guys do that?!?

I have kept that saying in my mind, "God will not put on us more than we can bear."
Crazy that I have always thought this was a scripture, but it's not. There are other ones that describe why we say this though.

Romans 8:38-39

38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 10:13

13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

I know that after living for God and having the Holy Ghost for fifteen years, I have seen a lot of stuff. I can't explain the things we go through. I have seen people who are faithful to church and give God their all, go through trials. We will never understand why God puts us through certain things. Might be that one day it will be our testimony or we may need to help someone else go through it. It could be that God needs to work over some things in us. All I know is that I have seen people go through things and have seen them come through even stronger than before! God KNOWS what He is doing! It's not a matter of if, it's when and how! If God decides to heal my body, awesome! If I need medical help, I'm up for it. If adoption is the case, he will help us. Some day I will be a mom, and until then I'm a mother's "helper" to 15 teenagers, haha!

So I'll just keep trusting in Him....I know God has it all in control!!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your families and friends!

Looking back we had a wonderful year.... Here are some of the highlights:

Feb 2011~ Went to Leavenworth!

May~ We Purchased our first home!!

Also in May~ Youth Formal

June~Family Trip to Oregon to the Dunes

*The home our family rented on the lake*

*Our Beautiful View*

*Cousins*

August~Youth Convention!

This was an exciting year because Destiney got the Holy Ghost!! We grew as a youth group so much! Cant wait for this upcoming one.

September~ Youth Ablaze Camp-out!! Little Naches!

Also in September~ Alyssa's Bridal Shower

*The beautiful bride to be*

October~ My Wonderful In~laws came to visit!!

*The whole family spending time together*

Alyssa and Mark's Wedding!!!

~October 14TH~

A wonderful day! I honestly couldn't be happier for my baby sister! I love them both very much!
It was a beautiful wedding!!

November~ A wonderful Thanksgiving! My awesome Sister~in~law Beth came to visit and we had a lot of fun together!! I was super excited to be able to host Thanksgiving at our new home this year!

Did some black Friday shopping after!! It was a lot of fun!!

December ~CHRISTMAS!!!!

I love this time of year! Disappointed it didn't snow, but hey its still January we might get some. :-) Had a wonderful Christmas spending time with family and friends!