Holiday Picture

Thank you so much to Faith for taking our family Christmas pictures this year, they look so great!

 

 

Merry (late) Christmas!!!

Despite being away from my family for the first Christmas ever, I still had a pretty good one!

The Friday before Christmas, Chelsea picked up Hubby and me and took us down to their dad's house. From there, we went on to Debbie's family's house for some Secret Santa, lots of food and lots of laughs.

My Santa got me a new computer chair to go with the desk my mom got for me, so now I don't have to use my dining room chair anymore to sit at my desk! Woohoo!

On Christmas Eve, at 11:00pm, Chris and I met Jeanette, April, Chelsea and Kalen in Pauls Valley and we attended a midnight church service.

Now, I'm not religious, but I still went, and though Chris and Jeanette loved the service, I don't think I'll be going next year. It was beautiful, but I didn't feel like I fit in because I don't believe in the same things as everyone else.

I'm glad I went and experienced it though.

At the end of the service there was a candle lighting and it was beautiful.

As we walked in, everyone was given a candle, and at the end, the ushers walked down the aisle with candles and lit the candle of whomever was seated on the edge of each row, then we would light one another's candles with our own. The lights went out, and the whole room was light by the candles.

Christmas morning, Chris and I had our very first Christmas together EVER!

Usually in the past, we had to celebrate either over video calls, pictures and videos. This year, we got to be there with one another, and while I did (and do) miss my family, it was nice to be able to celebrate with Chris for once.

I ended up with a new iPod, a new point-and-shoot camera, some eyeshadows, a ton of candy, a Wii console (thanks to Momma Ma), some pretty drinking glasses (again, thanks to Momma Ma) and a good chunk of money.

Not too bad huh?

After presents, Chris and I trekked on down to Jeanette's house for some delicious food and more family time. There, we played dirty Santa, and I got a pretty picture frame and a candle/candle holder, while Chris snagged a $25 gift card for an AMC movie theater.

At around 5/6, Chris and I took Anna and Gabe to Chris' dad's house for the night.

This morning, we all got up and waited for the rest of the Figs to show.

Once everyone arrived, we had a super yummy breakfast with an omelet roll, Debbie's delicious breakfast casserole, some pigs in a blanket, other pig in a blanket type stuff with bacon, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

More presents included a lot of candy, a pretty little ring and a chunk of cash.

Chris and I said our goodbyes, stopped back by Jeanette's to deliver one final present and pick up some leftovers from yesterday, then we were back on our way.

Silly as we are, we decided to stop by the mall to spend some Christmas money.

Guitar Center wasn't too bad, but the prices were more than MusiciansFriend.com, and the Apple store didn't have any cases I liked to protect my spiffy new iPod.

So off to GameStop we went, where we found 3 new Wii games!

Then to BestBuy we traveled, where we found me an incredible new case for my iPod that looks comparable to the famous OtterBox! In blue!!

Finally, we ventured to WalMart for a Wiimote, nunchuck, some new earphones, clearanced candy canes, and some sponges.

When we finally got home to the disastrous mess of a living room, what did we do, but play Mario Party 8!

It's still the holiday season...the cleaning can wait another day or two.

Until then...off to bed I must go, for I have training at the Riverwind casino tomorrow for my job at Newcastle.

Goodnight!

Wedding Wednesday

"We come here to remember..."

Last Sunday, Chris took me to the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial, and it was a very upsetting experience.

 For those of you who are unaware of the events surrounding the bombing, I'll give a little bit of a background.

On April 19th, 1995, 168 lives were lost, including 19 children under the age of 6, and even more lives were changed forever.

At 9:02am, a Ryder rental truck that had been parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Downtown Oklahoma City was rigged to explode. The bomb went off, killing many of the employees, visitors, and children in the on-site daycare, all due to two men that were upset with the Government.  

A third of the building was completely destroyed and the rest of the building was left unstable and dangerous for the bombing survivors. Prior to the September 11 attack, this bombing was the most deadly terrorist attack, with the most property damage, on American soil. Today, it remains the most deadly act of domestic terrorism in United States history.

In order to enter the memorial, you must pass through the gates of time. One is stamped with 9:01, which represents the moment before the bomb went off...the moment of Oklahoma City's innocence.  Across from the first gate, is an identical one with 9:03 stamped on it, which stands for the minute just after the attack, when hundreds of lives were changed forever as well as the hope that came from the horror in the time after the bombing.

Between the two gates is the reflecting pool, which occupies the street that the Ryder truck was parked on. It is a shallow pool of gently flowing water to provide a quiet area for peaceful thoughts and to soothe wounds.

Beside the gates and the reflecting pool is the field of empty chairs. Each chair rests atop a glass base represents a life lost in the bombing, with smaller chairs for the 19 children killed and a name etched on each one.

The chairs are arranged in 9 rows for each floor of the building. Each chair is placed on the field according to where they were in the building at the time of the bombing.

By day, the glass beneath the chairs allows the chairs to look like they are floating, and by night, lights glow beneath the chairs as beacons of hope.

For the holidays, each chair was decorated with wreaths and ribbons. The field looked like a graveyard, and though it was a beautiful sight with the 168 chairs light up and decorated, it was also very sad to look at. It seemed like a graveyard on the field, and it was incredibly upsetting to look at all the lights for the lives lost, and to think of how many more lives were forever changed in the worst of ways.

As Chris and I went through the memorial, I realized how easy it would be for someone to do something like this again. If someone decided to destroy another federal building, or even a mall or apartment complex, unless they were acting strange and nervous, how would we know? How could we stop them from repeating this terrible act?

Who is to say that we are truly safe anywhere?

I know that we can't live in fear, but it's a terrifying thought that our lives, and the lives of our loved ones are partially in the hands of those terrorists and murderers. If they were to snap and finally go though with another bombing or other act of violence, our lives and out loved ones lives could essentially be over.

There are school shootings, mall shootings, and acts of violence like this all the time unfortunately, and it's incredibly scary to me.

Again, I know we can't live in fear, but it's a very scary thought to have in the back of my mind.

Wedding Wednesday

Christmas is fast aproaching!

Christmas is almost 2 weeks away!
I feel like there is still so much I have to do, but there really isn't. I just have a few stocking stuffers to buy for Chris, plus one more gift for him, get my Christmas cards sent out, and buy a $25 gift for the gift exchange at Mom-in-law's.

Unfortunately, my little point and shoot camera decided to crap out after a year, so I don't have any good quality pictures to share...just some from my cell phone (which doesn't take the best quality photos)

This year, Chris and I bought a real tree for our Christmas tree. I can't remember ever having a real tree, so this was a treat for me! We also made some ornaments with the in-laws at Mom-in-law's house. This year we made little cupcakes, and they're too cute! Sparkley and cute.
I've been in a crafty mood lately, so I also made a wreath to hang up on the front door. Instead of a traditional wreath though, I made a snowflake! It used up like 50 popsicle sticks, a bunch of glitter, white paint, and glue.
It took a LOT longer than I planned, made more of a mess, and my back was killing me from hunching over it.

It's also kinda crooked, but it's still cute I think.
I also picked up Chris and my stockings that Jeanette made for us. Chris' is police themed, and mine is blue with little silver stars. We had picked up some stocking hangers from Bed Bath & Beyond a week or so ago since we don't have a chimney to hang out stockings over, and we set them up at the little window hole thingy leading in to the kitchen.
Clever huh?
It would have been cuter if they had "Mr." and "Mrs." but this is cute too, don't you agree?

Ooh! I also got a new computer desk for my birthday thanks to my Momma Ma. It took forever to put together, and again, my back was killing me by the time it was over, but I really like it. I've wanted an "L" shaped desk for a while, and now I have one!
My iMac is too wide to fit in the little cubby hold though, so it sits just in front. haha, good thing it's thin!
Now all I need is a computer chair, which I'm hoping to get at Dad-in-law & Debbie's Christmas this year at her family's house.

The apartment is coming along...we just need to get some pictures printed and keep it clean, and it'll be a good little home.

Well...I guess that's all for now.
Just sharing my excitement for the upcoming holidays!
Ta-ta for now!

Wedding...Thursday?