Like a room without a roof!

Photo Update:

Girls' night at Pinot's Palette with Talhia and Terrie... a lot of fun, and I love how they turned out! (We all did our word for the year - Talhia's is "love," so she did the couple on the bridge instead, which is really cute.)

The painting process was a lot of fun, as was the epic 90's background soundtrack! lol
{Fun Sidenote:  Talhia has asked me to be her wedding photographer this September in Central Park - I'm really excited/nervous!!}

While we were celebrating my 30th in Vegas, Kristin and Frankie were celebrating Anthony's 2nd birthday in heaven with a balloon release at the cemetery.  I was sad to miss it.  I love this picture, and I love them.

{Side note again:  She found out she's having another boy, Diesel Eugene, and everything is going very smoothly with this pregnancy so far, praise the Lord!  Keep them in your prayers, please.}

Please also be praying for Jenni and the Kufahl family.  Her cancer has taken a major turn for the worse, and the doctors are not optimistic.  She is a wife and a mother of seven, and her family is well known and beloved at CHA.  Anyway, all prayers for healing, wisdom, comfort, etc. would be appreciated!

I hosted the women's LG on March 4th - Kelly brought lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting to celebrate Angela's birthday - yum!  We're going through A Confident Heart by Renee Swope right now, which has been really good!!

My preciously happy niece, Missy K (aka Kyndal Faith) with a bow as big as her head... the cutest baby on the planet! =)

Future cowgirl and cowboy, perhaps! :)

Pet IDs for my girls - adorable and hilarious!  They have now doubled in size (from 2 and 3 pounds to 4 and 5.5 pounds).  Watch out, world - there's no stopping them now! lol

Two of the best things that came out of 2013 - I just love them!!!

And finally, Lindsey and Lauralai's DAY OF FUN! (a la Joey and Janice, in case you missed that Friends reference).  Laura asked me to be her date to Travis and Blair's wedding this Saturday, and it was so much fun!  I finally got to meet Ashley's girls, Cassie and Gabby, and they entertained us through the Afternoon Tea reception.  So many good ideas from that wedding - hopefully I'll get to put them to good use someday!  We got to hang out with Tara Jane (who was the lovely Maid of Honor) and experience a helicopter send-off, which was pretty awesome!  One of the best wedding/receptions I've been to in a long time.  If I do a church wedding, I'm definitely getting married at FUMC - so pretty!

Here's my green in honor of St. Patrick's Day!

Hope it's been a good one!

This quote rang so true for me.  I'd change it a little to "The reason most people find it so hard to be happy is that they tend to see the past..." but other than that, it's pretty spot on, and something worth correcting!

A few quick thoughts/quotes:

• I recently heard about a mom who painted and decorated her child's nursery in the midst of being worried about a possible miscarriage.  I love that!  I applaud people who celebrate joy and focus on hope even in the face of fear that their greatest joy may be taken away... Brene Brown talked about that, how refusing to celebrate the joyful moments with others doesn't lessen or cushion your heartache if it ends poorly; it simply robs you of shared joy on one side and compassion on the other.  So hooray for celebrating and choosing love over fear!
• Sad sadness - Army Wives is officially over.  I watched "The Final Salute" looking back over it all tonight... it included a detailed recap of Jeremy's funeral and other poignant moments from the show.  Needless to say, I cried several times.  I miss Claudia Joy, Denise, Pamela, Roxy, and Roland already!!
• Tip:  If ever you're in a car accident (assuming you're not terribly injured), I highly recommend writing down everything you can remember that day or the next day, ASAP after the wreck.  Where were you and which direction were you going?  What color and model was the car that hit you?  What was the traffic like?  How fast were you and the other car going?  Were other cars involved?  How close were they when you first saw them?  Etc.  It took almost two years for my car wreck to make it to trial, but I was asked each of those questions that day.  (Hooray for my "Memory Monday" post right after the wreck.)  Anyway, if it never goes to trial, it'd at least be interesting to read someday once you've forgotten the little details.  So write it down!!
• I've realized relationships are like rooms with adjoining doors - each person has to open their door (their heart) to let the other in, and both can go in and out and share each other's space as they get to know each other.  When someone closes their door to you, you will never have closure until you close your door to that person, period.  Sometimes you might not want total closure (like when someone dies or when you're holding onto false hope).  But when it's a gaping reminder and you need the closure, all you have to do is choose to close the door and move forward.  In that way, "closure" is much easier and more in our control than we often make it out to be.  And I'm glad for that!
• Am I the only one that kinda wishes "Kid President" would "retire" already? lol  Surely at least Rach is on board with me.  Everyone's obsessed with those videos, and I just don't get it.  I find kids that age who find themselves adorable quite annoying.  Blarg.
• The main reason I'm glad the Olympics are over is no longer having to see the "Every victory begins with a bite" McDonald's commercial. Painfully ridiculous. lol
• So excited to see Divergent on Friday!
• Funny/awesome - thanks to a lengthy jury voir dire, we found out that of the 36 people called to serve on our jury, all but two have guns in their home (and I do mean guns, plural - most of them had several) - and of the two that didn't, one gave a speech in support of them and the other owns a gun but moved it out of her home for a bit because her son is on probation. lol  "Oooooklahoma!"
• "For I will fully satisfy the weary soul, and I will replenish every languishing and sorrowful person." ~God (Jeremiah 31:25)
• "Winter and Spring struggling for dominance... An outward expression of an internal reality: Everywhere you look, you can see the world as it is and the world as it could be. Winter and Spring. Old and new. Despair and hope. Death and life... Winter threaten(s) to conquer but Spring prevail(s) in the end. Spring wins. It always has. It always will. And that, my friends, is the very best of news." ~Ben Nockels 
• "We are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves. The thing is – we will. We will love others as we love ourselves... whether we want to or not. It will leak out.  How we treat our hearts is the way we will treat others. And it matters."  ~Stasi Eldredge  
• I really love that reminder not to be harsh or dismissive toward myself, not to put too much pressure on myself, but to be kind to my own heart - so that I can be kind to others as well!!
• And one more time, Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

Song of the Week = Happy by Pharrell, (to go with my bright and happy new blog look, inspired by Spring and Summer!)  I know it's old to some of you, but I'm just discovering it, and it's pretty fun!!