Our Life in the Yellow Brick House

I'm a fairly simple person. In fact, if I were an ice cream flavor, I'd probably be vanilla. Boring, I know. I sometimes dream of being strawberry, but that's a little more messy and not everyone likes strawberry, so vanilla it is. I am still learning to fully embrace this about myself. I was playing a game with the StuFu kids on the way to our exec retreat one year. One of the questions was, if you could have any house in the world, what would it be? Haylee, our current president, said the Buckingham Palace. I believe her reasoning was because she could stay in a different room every night and she would never have to clean. What a dreamer she is! I said something extremely normal because that's just the way I think. It's not that I don't have big dreams, it's just that that my dreams aren't necessarily of the earth-shattering variety. I dream about making an impact in someone else's life just when they need it most; being the best wife, sister, ...

 So much has changed since my last post. I'm now a whole year older, which was made very apparent to me today when I was taking a survey. Instead of the 18-25 box, I'm now in the 26-35 box. I have mixed feelings about this, but overall I'm happy to have another blessed year under my belt. Things at work have been moving right along, which is why I haven't taken time to post in the last few weeks. Hopefully I can update you about that later. For now, I'll share two things that stood out to me on the 26th anniversary of my birth. 1. I was having bad allergies that week. That is somewhat rare for me but it has been happening more and more the older I get. When I was complaining to Mom about it during one of our daily talks, she said she didn't have trouble with her allergies until she was pregnant with me. She then said, "You'll be 26, right? That's exactly how old I was when I was pregnant with you." What a strong woman she was! I can't i...

I was so excited to bust out my sewing machine this past weekend. I've had it since Christmas, but I've never had the time to buy supplies and actually do something with it. Needless to say, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Look at my new sewing kit! Something I love about sewing is that you can do it while thinking about other things. This past weekend, one of those things was friendship. Many people are lucky enough to have a best friend. Maybe it’s someone you work with or someone you roomed with in college. For me, it’s Kimberly. We’ve been friends for literally longer than I can remember. I couldn’t tell you how old we were when we first met, but most of my memories from elementary school and beyond include her. There are a lot of great things about having someone in your life who’s been there for it all. We share a history that few can understand. I suppose it’s similar to what you have with your siblings, but it’s more special because you choose to be friends and continue...

Happy birthday to my handsome husband! Kyle turned 27 yesterday. Although he wanted his birthday to be very low key, he still had a great day. His Mom and Dad came down to take us out to dinner and then Tom came over for a day-old chocolate cake. (Kyle doesn't like a freshly baked cake for some reason, so I had to be sure to make it the day before.)   Although it was Kyle's birthday, it felt like mine. I came home from work to discover we had new living room and dining room furniture! Pretty exciting stuff! Greg and Stacie came to visit last weekend and asked us if we'd like to swap furniture with them so they would have a little more space. We eagerly agreed, but I didn't expect to get it so soon. Yay for us! We may have to do some re-arranging but these are our new couches! You can see our new dining room table in the birthday cake picture above.  Here are some pictures from last weekend. It was SO much fun hanging out with Henry all day and doing abso...

I found this photo here. I love days when everything comes together and you get a glimpse of why God laid things out the way He did. This week has been one of those weeks for me. I believe things happen for a reason and that everything will come together for good. However, when I'm actually in the moment waiting for a result or answer, my certainty of this belief sometimes falters. I have friends and family who are going through some very hard times right now. Whether it's their health or their relationships, things are broken and life isn't going the way they always imagined it would. It's a hard spot to be in and an even harder spot to be thankful for. I have a very blessed life, but lately at work I've been feeling overwhelmed and under appreciated. Reality or not, that's the way I've felt. I still love my job, and I always have. I am very thankful to be where I am. It's just been a tough few months. This whole time, all I've wanted is a li...