back home

after spending a week in moberly, mo for work i made home. 

Christmas Decorating

Brought to you by Nic:

I just wanted to share a few of the best parts of Christmas-decorating with you all.

I got to put my safari Rack back on my 4Runner to get the Christmas tree. Perhaps I should end this post here, cause that was pretty much the best part.

Julie cooked and basically made TWO dinners while I set up the Christmas tree. Dinner #1 was delicious.

Neosho was a BIG help setting up the tree skirt.

The tree skirt looks like Captain America's shield.

Neosho was also a huge help opening the ornament containers. For the record, we couldn't get them open, and he successfully helped us with nine of them, without issue. And then when I took a video on the last one, he completely crushed the ornament inside.

Julie's ornament lanters are fun. But watching her find the perfect position for them for half an hour, EVEN MORE FUN.

It's going to take a while to finish, but at least we finally got started.

Merry Christmas!

Family photos

Oh what fun we have at the holidays.

mom and her sisters

cousin's kids got a hold of the ipad. :)

silly video watching.

Thanksgiving Photo

At the Fansher farm in Garden City, KS

Posted via DraftCraft app

iPad blogging, test, test, 1, 2, 3

In a moment of weakness, we purchased an iPad for me. Today, Nic showed me an app called, Draftcraft, which allows you to easily post blogs via an iPad. Sweetness. Hope it works!

Posted via DraftCraft app

advent season

questions in my mind lately. am i just going through the motions? memorizing my way through life? do i know Him? do i understand Him? do i know what He loves? do i know what He hates? can i let go of control? approval? 

i've heard a couple of christmas songs lately and the lyrics have reminded me what the christmas season is all about. on my drive home today it was the last verse of silent night.

silent night, holy night

son of God, loves pure light

radiant beams from Thy holy face

with the dawn of redeeming grace

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

i often think about what life was like back then, when Jesus was born. God's people were expecting a king by the world's definition, one to rescue them and make all their problems go away. but God sent a baby, his Son. you see, the world is broken, humanity is broken, things aren't as they should be, we still have plenty of problems, we are sinful, and because of it, we can't stand in the presence of a holy God. but on that holy night, God sent his Son to redeem humanity to Himself. the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus was born, He lived the perfect life we should've live, and died on the cross taking all God's wrath to pay for our sin, all of it, none of His wrath is left for us, and calls us to believe, to trust Him. have faith my child, you've been redeemed, reconciled to your Father.

advent. the four sundays leading up to christmas. it's a season to prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming of our savior at christmas and his promise to come again to bring it to completion.

'tis the season.

New York City 2011

i love traveling, and even though i'm partial to the mountains, spending some time in new york city last week with friends and family turned into an incredible and memorable vacation. of course, not a vacation that proved to be relaxing by any stretch of the imagination. it started off with a work conference followed by jam packed days of sight-seeing, walking countless miles through crowds of people, navigating through unknown territories (thank you google maps for all your assistances), getting as little sleep as possible, and bickering as all healthy married couples do, starting to sound like a great time, huh? well, it was. without further ado, here's our trip in a nut-shell of a blog post.

i flew in wednesday night and spent the next two days learning some valuable information about SEC filing requirements. the first night we ate at dos cominos, yes, mexican in the city, so delicious. great guac. the second night we ventured to a cute little italian restaurant in union square, i tre merli, also delicious.

at i tre merli

at mcsorley's old ale house est. 1854. two types of beer are sold, dark and light.

nic flew in friday night and saturday, november 12th, we began the sight-seeing, after a cup of coffee of course.



at the roasting plant in the green village. we then walked through the union square green market.

strolled through central park.

found apple store #1. yipee!!

met up with nic's sister for lunch at le pain (awesome food) near columbus circle, followed by walking/shopping/browsing. loved the shopping south of washington square park.

had to charge our phones from all the usage we put them through, so we found apple store #2. :)

after all the walking, the three of us decided to sit and eat dessert before dinner, best. choice. ever.

we then met back up with friends where we enjoyed dinner and wine in little italy. hm, can't remember the name of this restaurant. ;)

sunday we toured what we could see of the 9/11 memorial, took a subway to brooklyn, ate grimaldi's pizza, and then walked back to manhattan across the brooklyn bridge. we stopped for an afternoon coffee at 71 irving and people watched in washington square park. oh and had an amazing peanut butter sandwich at peanut butter and co. the evening line up was the Rockettes show at radio city music hall and dinner at rosa mexicana near lincoln center.

construction on the new building at the world trade center site.

grimaldi's pizza and a $2 can of coke.

the view from brooklyn bridge, a lot has happened in 10 years.

afternoon coffee at 71 irving place coffee and tea bar

heading to the show

setting up the tree at Rockefeller Center, which seemed to deserve a photo at the time.

at the Rockettes!

while not a clear shot, evidence of us at lincoln center.

monday we spent the morning with nic's sister, saw grand central station, ate at patsy's pizza, visited an AMAZING furniture store (abc carpet & home, incredible), ate thai food at republic (so satisfying), saw phantom of the opera (bonechilling), and capped the night with juniors cheesecake. my feet were officially swollen by end of day monday.

tuesday was our final day in the city and we packed it full.

morning coffee at the starbucks near our 34th and 9th st. apartment

toured the top of the empire state building

said good-bye to nic's sister

shopped the christmas section at macy's, did you spot santa?!?!

we grabbed a quick burger at shake shack in madison square park, and made a last minute decision to go to the patigonia store.

we bought matching jackets. :)

all in all a wonderful trip. happy thanksgiving!!