Shhhh

I am one of those people that has a hard time keeping surprises.

I get so excited that I just NEED to tell someone, anyone.

Sometimes I beg David to let me give him his presents early just so I can get it over with. But, he won't have any of it--he actually likes waiting (I guess opposites do attract)!

Well, I am planning a surprise for Valentine's Day.
I can't tell you what it is (David might read this)
But I am so excited!

David always does big surprises for me so I felt like it was my turn to keep the flame burning.
I am working on it tonight so hopefully my creative juices are flowing.

Are you a person who enjoys waiting for surprises?

a top 10 of sorts

Some of my favorite things about our Caribbean Cruise:

10. Movies Under the Stars--imagine watching a movie on a lounge chair with free popcorn, a cozy blanket and your favorite person underneath a sky full of stars and a full moon. One word: bliss!

9. No responsibility--blackberry wouldn't work, no laundry, no cooking, no budget balancing, nada!

8. Twice-a-day maid service--I never made my bed or hung up a towel the entire time

7. Seeing the ocean every, single day!

6. Learning how to play Canasta on our balcony

5. Ordering 3 different flavors of ice cream at dinner --just so I could see which one I liked best

4. Getting to be with David all the time

3. Spinning Class--my first time ever and running has never made me sweat quite like that

2. Being rocked to sleep every night--I totally understand why babies like that so much

1.Doing what we wanted, when ever we wanted and never being bored--a perfect vacation!

He Suffered

"Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted." Hebrews 2:18

What power, what truth there is in those words.
Today I read that verse and saw something new, something I hadn't registered before.

"He suffered"

It wasn't like it was easy for Jesus to say "no!" to temptation.
The sin pulled at him, trying to make him captive.

It wasn't some magical gene mutation that only the Son of God had.
He had a choice.

It wasn't as if He did it to show us He was better.
He endured so He could help.

Even then back then God knew that I depend on it.

We're Back!

We have been so blessed this past month to have lots of time to rest and visit new places. After I took a few personal days off around Christmas, David and I left for Pasadena on December 29th on the trip that I won at work. We went to help with the building of the Donate Life Float for the Rose Parade. It was such a great experience to see the entire production and meet all the families that had given so much to others through organ donation.





Learning how to properly cut and prepare flowers to be place on the float:


Float in progress:


Our Group at the Stars of Life Gala
(don't we all look dressed for a funeral in our black outfits, ha!)


The night before the parade...people sleep on the streets and all the stores are boarded up. Quite the experience!





The Finished Product:


The float was named Stars of Life. It honored those individuals and families that chose to donate in the midst of unthinkable tragedy.

We even found an In-N-Out while we were there...yum!




After the parade we went to the Rose Bowl. David and I both love football so it wasn't hard to scrounge up the funds and justify why we should get tickets. We decided to be Penn State fans (David has always liked Joe Paterno)and then ended up sitting in a sea of people cheering for USC. We were lucky we made it out alive.







We came back to Colorado for 4 short days before we were off to Flordia to embark on our Caribbean Cruise! I will post pictures of that vacation soon...I have to go finish laundry.

Oops..

I was on vacation for a couple weeks and thought I would be blog-savvy and schedule some posts to publish while I was gone...

Well I did it wrong...it must be the blonde highlights!
If you have time or desire to read some "old" posts, see below! :)