Immeasurably more...

This is what I saw when I opened my garage to leave for work yesterday morning. Isn't it beautiful?? This week has stayed cold enough that there is still snow on the ground 3-4 days after our big snow day on Sunday. The photo reminds me of one of those little mountain towns where it snows all the time and everyone's always bundled up. Makes me want to curl up by the fire with a good book and just relax. I'm thankful that I live in Texas where we have the extreme heat and the extreme cold and everything in between. I love bundling up - and I love wearing flip flops.

I'm also thankful for beautiful sunrises like this that remind me that God is all that I need. Even when work seems like too much to handle, and I'm tired and worn out from the day. I can rest in the knowledge of His grace and mercy in my life, and know that He has a plan for me. More perfect than I could ask for or imagine.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  ~Ephesians 3: 20-21

Faith At Home

Too often people rely on church to maintain their relationship with their Heavenly Father. We grab our Bible off the shelf on Sunday morning, bring it to ABF and "Big Church" to look up verses and follow along with the sermon, only to put it right back on that shelf for it to sit untouched until the following Sunday. Too often we cry out to God in worship and pray to Him and experience a closeness that is missing in our lives, and continue to reserve only Sundays for that kind of relationship. Too often parents rely on Sunday School teachers to teach their children about God. This is not the way God intended the Christian life to be lived.

Sunday, our pastor introduced us to a new initiative called "Faith at Home." It starts with the family unit, by praying and reading the Bible together, talking about the Lord in everyday situations, with weekly church meetings as a reinforcement to what is already going on at home. Our pastor and church staff is challenging each member to make their walk with the Lord a priority in this new year and change the perception of "church."

Jason and I have a checklist with some action items to help guide us in this challenge:

• Have a personal devotion with prayer and Bible reading at least 5 times/week.
• Pray with each other at least twice weekly.
• Read through the book Love and Respect together.

We have been to a Love and Respect marriage conference, but haven't actually read through the book and I imagine it will be sort of a refresher to what we already know. If you and your spouse have ever wanted to go to a marriage conference, but just don't know which one - I highly recommend Love and Respect. The concepts are very basic and easy to understand and apply. You will leave the conference knowing your spouse and where they are coming from so much more.

I'm excited to see where this Faith at Home journey takes us - it's coming at a great time for me and Jason as I'm sure our family will grow in the near future. We definitely want to have a strong Christian base to our family before we have children and I think this is a great way to get started.

SNOW~!!~!!

It snowed in McKinney yesterday and it was SO COOL! I have a late start this morning for work (although technically it should be a full day off ... but policy shmolicy!), so I figured I'd share the photos of the pretty snow.

 This was on our way to McAllister's for lunch - only been snowing for a couple of hours...

 I love taking photos of tables in the snow - show's you how many inches you've gotten.
Looks like 3-4 at this point!

 Jason is the best snowman maker EVER! He's going to be such a great dad someday. :)

Henry (our snowman) is looking pretty good this morning so far!

Happy Winter, everyone! Stay warm!!

Kylee Grace Smith, cutest niece I'VE ever had! :)

So ... I'm officially an AUNT!!! I couldn't be more thrilled. She was born at 8:36pm (EST) January 6, 2011, weighing 7lbs 12oz and 21.5in long. Here's a picture of the Smith family's new princess:

Isn't she PRECIOUS?! I cannot wait to kiss those sweet cheeks!!

So sweet. :)

This is the text I got from Justin (proud dad) at 3:33pm (EST): "In room. Started potoson. Contractions getting intense. No drugs yet. Court is a soldier." What an awesome hubby! Those are proud words!!

Congrats, Justin and Courtney on your little bundle of joy. Can't wait to meet her and watch her grow up!

December, already?!

I absolutely cannot believe it is December already. Am I the only one who thinks this year has gone by insanely fast?

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Liberty, TX. First time having them host the holiday and they did a fantastic job. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was calm and relaxed. They set up tables in their garage and we ate outside, which was a nice surprise. The boys had a fun jam session at the school my uncle teaches at - he's got some really great recording equipment that he wanted to try out. Dad and Jason loved it.

 

Jason and I went to my company's Christmas party this past Saturday night. It was a fun time and the food was great. I got a Christmas bonus equal to one week's pay - so I'm excited to decide what I want to spend it on! Definitely helps me wake up every morning to head into the office. ;)

Then we made a Thanksgiving #2 meal with our friends, the Schobey's yesterday. The food was delicious and the company was awesome. The boys played Xbox and the girls watched Felicity (we're almost done with Season 2). It was a fun relaxing day and a great end to the weekend.

Last weekend Jason and I finished all our Christmas shopping, so we'll work on wrapping all our gifts this week. We're getting excited because we'll be in Florida for Christmas this year! It will be fun to spend several days with Jason's family and enjoy just relaxing with them. My sister-in-law, Courtney is due with her very first sweet baby girl January 7, so my mother-in-law and I are hoping for an early baby so we can be there to share in the excitement and fun! I had so much fun buying cute little clothes for Miss Kylee Grace - can't wait to meet my sweet little niece!

 Justin and Courtney in September 2010

Courtney and the excited Grandma's-to-be at her baby shower in November 2010

So if Courtney doesn't have Kylee while we're visiting, we'll be scheduling a trip to Florida sometime next year to meet and love on our very first niece.

The day after Thanksgiving I found out my best friend is engaged and getting married in April 2011. I am her MOH and am SO excited to help her celebrate the most exciting day of her life, thus far. We have been friends for over 10 years. Wow, that makes me feel old!

Lots of vacations coming up for the Smiths in 2011, and lots of celebrations and milestones for our friends and family.

Let's Go RANGERS!!!

Last night we camped out on the couch and found the game online. We had Herb-Roasted Cornish Game Hen and it was amazing! So flavorful and delicious. I even got out our Rangers souvenir cups to show our support.

It wasn't the best game ... 11-7 Giants. It's a bummer they lost, but that's the beauty of the World Series, best of 7. We'll be watching the game again tonight at our house - let's go Rangers!!!

Updated House Photos

So it's been a while since I've posted an update of our progress in our new house. We've been living here about 5 months, and are no where near done with all the things we want to do, but we have come so far! If you haven't seen the "before" photos, take a look here.

We have GRASS!! We hired TruGreen to take care of our lawn, and it has made a HUGE difference.

Look at all that pretty green grass. :)

The view when you walk through our front door.
Kevin (the gnome) and our kitty doorstop are keeping our IKEA furniture company...

View from the front door into our living room.

View from the front door down the hallway to the bedrooms/bathrooms.

Love those elephants...

Kitchen...

More kitchen...

View from the kitchen into the living room. I LOVE that the kitchen is open to the living room.

We have a mantel!! Only, we haven't finished the tile on the wall yet, but it's at least on the wall!

Living room, dining room, kitchen...

The extra bathroom.

If you saw the before pictures, this change is HUGE. These rooms are currently our Xbox/workout/guest room and our desk/music room. In the room with the blue wall you can see all our picture frames stacked up on the floor ... it's a work in progress. Still haven't decided what I want to do with these.

This is our bedroom! So homey and relaxing. :)

We really haven't done any more work since it's been so hot lately! These 100+ days do not make for productive attitudes! On our list of things to do once it cools off outside...

• Repaint our master bathroom a light blue color and install a new vanity and ceiling fan.
• Build custom shelving in the laundry room - it will be the house's main storage area since there are no linen or coat closets in the house.
• Repaint the laundry room a deep brown/purple color.
• Replace the fence around our yard - the current one is rotten and barely hanging on.
• Finish the tiling around the fireplace and complete the mantel area.
• Decide on fabric for curtains and sew myself.

Pantry ... I'm in LOVE!

Absolutely LOVE this post on a pantry re-vamp. Definitely my kind of project - check it out.

Grow, hair! Grow~!!

I have had some very bad haircuts and very bad experiences at the "salon." Growing up, I would always get my hair cut at Great Clips or the equally sucky equivalent, because I had a basic hair style. It was long, with long layers. I mean, how can you really screw that up? I was fine with these $15 haircuts until a lady got her rings tangled up in my hair while she was washing it. I mean she tugged and pulled to free her gaudy rings from my hair - to the point that tears ran down my cheeks. That was the last time I paid less than $50 for a haircut.

Then I went to college and found Nathan. He was a very good stylist, and gave me a scalp massage first thing every time. It was Ah-MAZ-ing. However, I don't really want to drive 45 minutes there and back AND spend over $50. I don't need a day trip, just a trim.

So, I tried Beauty Brands and got the cutest angled haircut ever. I mean, it was so cute. It was high maintenance, but so worth it - so cute! Then ... there was Bertha. You laugh. You think I'm kidding. No. Her name was Bertha and she butchered my hair. There is photographic evidence, but I refuse to share. It was just bad.

So, I've been growing my hair out ever since and still have yet to find a stylist who I trust and like and doesn't live in Timbuktu, and I feel is worth the $50 I shell out. Any referrals, ladies??

Here's the look I'm going for. Connie Britton from Friday Night Lights. See how long and flow-y it is??

LOVE those big, flowing curls. Curling iron?? Hot rollers??

Now, just 10 more inches to go. Grow, hair! Grow~!!

We went to Arizona ... in April...

So back in April Jason and I went to Arizona to meet up with one of my best friends who lives in California, and then met up with Jason's family for a good old fashioned Smith Family Vaca. It was a full week off of work and a great time away with lots of people we love. Tayler's parents own a house in AZ just outside of Phoenix that was within walking distance of this super cute little town square. They let us stay in the house, which was so awesome. It was so beautiful and I totally love her family's decor tastes. It was a nice way to relax and feel more at home than to stay in a hotel. I just wished we could have seen her family - miss them. Maybe a trip to CA is in order for sometime next year.

Tayler and Alina - friends for 10+ years (since high school)

I'm so jealous of Tay's long hair - isn't it beautiful??

This is Tayler's boyfriend, Brett. Super cool guy. Jason and I totally approved. ;)

Me and the hubby.

We also got to eat at In-N-Out while on our trip. LOVE this.

This is Jason and me enjoying a delicious dinner at this cute pizza place.

This is Jason on our hike up a AZ trail. There were TONS of people hiking and it was a weekday mid-morning. It's like just another way to exercise in AZ, just drive up to the trails and hike for some extra cardio. It was the most intense trail there, which we didn't know until later flipping through a magazine. Ha! It was BEAUTIFUL, though, and the weather was perfect.

These are Jason's parents posing next to a frog statue in Sedona. Lots of pretty scenery, but it was a little overcast and chilly. Still very breath-taking and a wonderful experience.

Barry rode with us for one leg of the road trip and Jason caught this photo while driving.

Me and Jason on the road - my camera got this weird fleck in the lens (you can kind of see the blurry spot), so I kind of stopped taking pictures after this. We fixed it later at home, thankfully.

All in all it was a great trip and we got to spend a lot of great time with Jason's family. We hardly ever get to see them, so it was nice to be able to spend so much time together just hanging out. We got to see a lot of sights, including the Grand Canyon (my second time), the Hoover Dam, and Las Vegas. It was a great experience, and hope to do another road trip sometime next year, too.