Kitchen In Progress

We've been in our house 2 1/2 weeks and I finally bought paint yesterday! I'm so excited to finally get some sort of decor going on. Don't get me wrong, the house is nice, but it's so PLAIN.

Project #1: KITCHEN
Love our kitchen. There's lots of room to work and I love all the natural light that comes in.

Before:

Now:

There's still lots I want to do to it (like toss the brass light fixture), both short and long term, but having color on the walls makes me happy!

My Little Girl

My little girl is growing up. Last night when I asked her to smile for a picture, this is what I got. It made me laugh. Love this girl!

Aaron's 31st Birthday

Today my wonderful husband turned 31. His birthday happened to fall on a Monday, which is nice because it's his day off. Abby stayed home from school because she still wasn't fully recovered from feeling sick... plus she really did not want to miss out on ANY of Daddy's birthday.

The kids and I started off the morning and went to get special breakfast food, a birthday present, and then the kids each got to pick out presents for Aaron at the $1 store. They got to choose all by themselves, so the selection was interesting... air freshener for his truck, a hand held fan, a puzzle book, and Reese's peanut butter cups. They had fun getting to choose and buy on their own.

We came home and spent the day together, then that evening, Jason, Natalie, Jackson, and Reagan came over and took us out to eat to celebrate. As always, we had a great time hanging out with them and the food at BJ's was great!

After dinner, we just went driving around and then went to check out Government Canyon near our house. Then we came home to open gifts and play games. The kids had found Pin the Tail on the Donkey at the store that morning and were exceedingly curious. We actually had TONS of fun playing. It was good for lots of laughs for us all.









I am so thankful for Aaron...
for the man of God that he is,
for making me laugh (even when I don't want to),
for the way he always takes care of me,
for the Daddy that he is,
for his passion and excitement,
for being completely unlike me,
for loving me,
and so much more!

I love you!

Beautiful Saturday

I love days like this... windows rolled down, hair blowing in the wind, and blue skies. It's been a beautiful day so far. In a little while Aaron will be home and my day will be even better. Thank you God for days like today.

Weekly Update [04.23.10]

This week has been really good in a lot of ways. It's the first week since we've moved that I've really gotten to be home and not go a lot of places. It's been nice. I wish that I could say that I've unpacked lots of boxes or decorated lots of rooms... but I haven't. And that's okay. I've gotten caught up on a lot of work, which desperately needed to be done. And it feels good not to have to worry about that.

Yesterday was Abby's long awaited field trip to the zoo with her class. She's been talking about it for at least three months, if not longer. She was excited, too, because her Ammie (or "Mimi" as she seems to be called more often lately) went along as a chaperone, and brought Carson too. She was SOOO excited. Well, yesterday mornning she woke us up complaining of a headache. Uh oh. But by the time she was heading out the door, she seemed fine. Well, I got a call after lunch from Aaron's mom saying that Abby was really sick and they had to leave the zoo early. At some point during the day, I started feeling sick too. So we both laid on the couch all evening and watched TV. Aaron and Carson cooked us dinner and took care of us all night, including a Dairy Queen run. Abby's feeling a little better this morning, but she's starting to run down again, and I still don't feel good. A few minutes ago, Abby brought me this...

Translation:
"I love you! I hope that you feel better from the sickness that you have. From, Abby"

She's such a sweet heart. And she also loves hearts and exclamation points! :) So cute.

In other news this week...

We had another meeting for the NW campus and were excited to see some new faces! It's so cool to see God moving in the hearts of individuals and building a vision! So excited for all that is to come.

It was Natalie's birthday! I love that girl, and she SO deserves to be celebrated!

We've loved driving around this area. We're so close to the Hill Country and it's so beautiful! Our neighborhood is still on the outskirts of everything, so you don't have to drive far at all to feel like you're "away" from it all. I love it. Hoping to check out Government Canyon State Park just up the road soon.

Well, I think that's all for now. All in all, it's been a nice week. I'll be glad when we're all feeling 100%, but in a way it's nice to sit and not do anything for a change.

Have a great weekend!

Road Trip Highlights

Last week Carson and I took a little road trip up to Dallas. I had a couple shoots and a seminar there, so we spent a few days up there with my family and had a great time!

The following three photos were taken while driving. I do not recommend this. But these three things are the highlights of my drive... every time. (Please excuse the picture quality. I thought it would be against my better judgement to fiddle to much with camera settings while behind the wheel.)

Sunset. I always love looking at the sky and seeing the way it changes. I think it's one of God's most amazing displays of creativity.


The Dallas skyline. I can't explain the feeling I get when I come over the hill on I-35 and see Dallas' big, beautiful, distinct silhouette against the sky. I love it.


The city limits sign. Home. Even my kids get excited to see the "Howe" sign. :)


Tuesday afternoon, my Dad took Carson and I out to the golf course to hit some balls, play a few holes, and enjoy the GORGEOUS weather. It was so nice and relaxing. I haven't golfed much over the past several years, and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed a nice day on the course. I love the smell of the course and the quiet and the slower pace... plus the time with my Dad is always cool. It was a great afternoon, even if I don't play as well as I did ten years ago!




My dad is such a great guy to play golf with. He's a great teacher and super encouraging, even when you know you're totally bombing it.


I look kinda frumpy here, but I figured I need to have a picture of me every now and again. To prove I exist.


Carson was obviously thrilled about the whole deal. Dad took him back to the course on Wednesday night too. :)


Even when you're no good at golfing, at least the scenery is amazing!


We did lots of other stuff that I didn't take pictures of like:
- a trip to IKEA with my wonderful Mom
- bridal portraits
- got to see Allison & Jeff Rogers at the PPA Seminar
- helped my mom as she's launching her new jewelry business, Mini Pearl (I'll post links soon!)
- laziness at Mom and Dad's house

All in all it was a great trip, but we were glad to get home to Aaron and Abby. I missed them a lot. They had a great week together though, complete with a date night at Ruby Tuesday's, ice cream, and lots more. Abby is still talking about how much fun she had with her Daddy last week.

Father, thank you for such an amazing family and for such a blessed life. I feel so lucky!

Buying our First House

It's finally done... we have a house. And I just want to say, THANK YOU, GOD! (Huge thanks also go to Eric Davis of Keller Williams Realty and Geoff Snyder of Gold Financial Services. They both worked their butts off on our behalf! :) Truly, I was blown away at their helpfulness.) We were able (by the miraculous hand of God) to get our keys last Friday and start moving in. Thursday, we were told that there was NO way we'd be able to get our keys before Monday or Tuesday. I prayed and prayed and prayed all night Thursday that somehow it'd work out. And it did!

He has opened and closed doors, big and small, all along the way to bring us here, and it's pretty cool. (And by cool, I mean exciting, humbling, and awe-inspiring.)

This is us signing papers Friday morning. Aaron made fun of me for taking my camera into the closing, but come on! I take pictures of the most mundane every day stuff and I'm not going to take pictures of the day we bought our first HOUSE?!


Our ever helpful realtor (and friend), Eric.


Celebratory lunch at Texas Land & Cattle!


Aaron's happy face. :)


Steak Queso. Of course this has nothing to do with the purchase of our house. But I had to post it. It was delicious!


Thank you all for your prayers for us, our house, our neighborhood, our finances, and this new call on our life!

I'll post pictures of the house next...

Quiet Times

Quiet times lately have been a treasure, and usually look like this... sitting in bed with a bowl of cereal and my iPod. I love having my reading plan on it!

Since the beginning of January, I've been reading through the Chronological plan. I don't know that I've ever read the Bible this way before. It's really interesting to read all of the stories that I know so well in context and to see how they're all connected. Still learning a lot from (and seeing a lot of myself in) those Israelites. Turning to God, turning away, turning back to God, becoming apathetic, coming back to God, putting other things before Him... Yep, it's sort of convicting.

These times with God have been great, and I'm learning (just like Israel) that when I put God first, everything else has a way of falling into place.

Weekly Update [04.06.10]

In some ways I feel like there's been a lot going on lately, and in other ways I feel like nothing has been going on. Here are some bullet points...

- I wish I'd had my camera with me, but last Wednesday, our small group had sort of a farewell dinner for us and it was awesome. We have loved our small group. They're an amazing group of people! They prayed for us and for the Northwest campus, and it was sad and exciting all at the same time. We'll be starting our new NW small group mid-May!

- The word all along (well, for the past week or two) has been that we're supposed to close on our house on Friday. Well, we just found out that it's probably not going to happen until next Wednesday or Friday. I'm trusting God (and praying lots) that it does though, because we still have to be out of our current house on Sunday.

- Last night was the Astros opening night. It's a longstanding (2 year) tradition in our house that on opening day, we watch the game together and eat lots of baseball fare. You know... peanuts... Cracker Jacks... hot dogs...

- Aaron has had to go to two funerals in the past two weeks. Tragic, sad funerals. Hope these are the last for a while.

- Abby and Carson have been doing awesome lately. They're super sweet kids who get along BEAUTIFULLY. They've been spending most of their time in the back yard playing on the swing set and talking over the fence to the neighbor kids.

- Finished the book of Joshua the other day and am now reading Judges. This is the longest I've ever stuck with a Bible reading plan!

- I've been watching a lot of TV lately. I know that I should stop. I've just started recording too many shows. But they're all so good! Here's my list:

• The Office - this has always been one of our favorites. It's losing some of it's funniness, but we love Jim and Pam... and Andy... and Dwight... well, we're kind of attached to them all.
• Community - funniest show on TV right now, in my opinion.
• Parenthood - I've only watched a few episodes, and there are parts of it I don't love, but the end always makes me emotional because they do a great job of showing what family is all about at the end of the day... loving each other despite choices or personality or past. Very cool.
• Project Runway - I'm always inspired by the talent and creativity.
• Undercover Boss - my dad turned me on to this one... it's really interesting!
• Home Rules - a new show on HGTV that I think is really interesting. It's not just home makeovers. It's lifestyle makeovers. Cool concept.
• Tabatha's Salon Takeover - this one hasn't been on in a while, but as a business owner, I love it. Even though she's not in my industry, she talks about marketing, customer service, appearance, etc. and how it all comes together to make or break your business.
• Life - this series on Discovery Channel is beautiful and awe inspiring. Just have to get past Oprah talking about how we all evolved from fish.
• Ten Dollar Dinners - I enjoy watching Melissa D'Arabian (winner of last season's Next Food Network Star) as she cooks meals for four for $10 or less. She's creative and helpful.
• American Idol - the past few seasons have sucked us in. I'm getting a little tired of the show, but now I'm invested. I think this season might be my last. (But I think I said that last year.)

I've probably rambled far longer than you care to read. It's a slow day in the newsroom. :)

Riding Horses at Aunt Judy's

Aunt Judy has an amazing organization called Equessense that uses horses as therapy for children with special needs and/or disabilities. Sandy has been going out there and photographing these children and their special relationships with the horses and it's really amazing!

Over the past month or so, she's taken the kids out to Judy's with her so they can ride the horses and hang out. They both LOVE it, and Abby has taken a very special liking to the horses. I hear she actually has a knack for riding and interacting with them! She talks about the horses all the time, knows all of their names, and was even inspired to start a journal to be able to write down her stories about them! Here are a few pictures that Sandy took a couple weeks ago!

Easter 2010

Today was a great day. It started off a little rough when I spent the better part of an hour looking all over the house for the new sandals that I bought yesterday to go with my Easter dress. I dug through trash, searched every corner, in the back yard. Finally had to go to church wearing black sandals that DID NOT match. As frustrated as I was, I decided to keep things in perspective and not ruin the celebration of our risen Savior over a pair of shoes. (Felt like an idiot when we got home tonight and I found my sandals under a throw pillow on the couch!)

Church this morning was powerful. I don't think I've ever been a part of such a great Easter service. The experience from beginning to end was excellent, moving, inspiring, beautiful, and rich with the presence of God. I meant to take my camera, but the shoe incident caused me to forget. Had a good time during youth with my high school girls small group. We somehow managed to connect Harry Potter to the story of Jesus in a somewhat strange, but relevant way. I did have to try very hard to stay on topic at one point when a debate about Harry Potter vs. Twilight broke out. (But while we're on the subject -- and someone will probably stone me for saying so but -- Harry Potter is in a totally different league than Twilight.) All that to say, our time at church this morning deeply impacted both Aaron and I.

After church we went through the drive-thrus at both Taco Cabana and Wendy's (I never go two places). But today. I felt like a bad mom/wife/person doing fast food on Easter, but I didn't have the energy to cook. Planning ahead is on my agenda for next year's Easter lunch.

The next couple hours, we sat around and totally vegged. Aaron played Madden on the Xbox. Carson took a nap. And Abby and I swung (swang? swinged?) on the swingset in the back yard. Then went shopping. Then headed over to Jason and Natalie's for Easter dinner.

We had a great evening with friends and family, eating ungodly amounts of food, laughing, talking, and celebrating. It was great! The kids also got to have an Easter egg hunt, and Abby was lucky enough to be the one to find the coveted golden egg with $5 in it. Carson was thrilled that he found an egg with four quarters in it and was convinced that was WAAAY better than (or at least just as good as) a $5 bill because there were four of them. We all had a lot of fun. Thank you so much to Natalie and Jason for your amazing hospitality, both today and always!

All of the following phots were taken by Abby this afternoon. I let her take my old D70 over to Jason and Natalie's to take pictures. She did pretty well! She told me in the car on the way over there, "I'm gonna start saving up my money so that when I'm 10, I can buy me a camera like this [a DSLR]." It made me smile.









Abby PROBABLY didn't take this picture. I guess she handed the camera off to Mackenzie or one of the other girls. :)


Here are some other favorites from this afternoon taken by Sandy...

Carson LOVES his Poppy! I love this picture :)


All the girls


Aaron and Reagan :)

Good Friday

Today was a great day full of reminders of why my life is so great.

Started out this morning taking family portraits for a couple from our church who just adopted three daughters from Haiti. It was really cool to be able to take the first portraits of their new family!

Had a great lunch with Lauri, my mentor, who is incredibly encouraging and challenging. I always learn so much from her wisdom.

Came home and enjoyed an afternoon/evening with my family. Talking, laughing, dreaming, mowing (normally not so exciting, but we finally got a new lawnmower last night to replace the other that broke), packing, eating, playing and more. It was really nice. I love Texas in the spring. It feels so awesome outside!


Found a snail on the swingset. That was good for nearly half an hours worth of entertainment.




Aaron was chef tonight and made the most delicious filet mignon. Wow. That is all that I can say. We came across a great deal at Costco and it was the best, most tender steak I have ever had. Mmmm... As he was cooking, we realized that the hand mixer had been packed already and he needed to whip the potatoes. What is it that they always say about necessity being the mother of invention?


Tonight as we sat around the table, Aaron closed with a prayer. "Thank you, Jesus, that on this day so many years ago, as you suffered, you were thinking about us."

Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for your love for us, your sacrifice, and your constant presence in our lives. We love you.