celebrating moms.

It was colder than last year, but none less beautiful outside, and fitting to celebrate the life and joy that my moms have brought to me. Mom... Chris... I thank the Lord for you every day and remember how grateful I am to have not one, but two moms who love the Lord, love their husbands, love their kids, and set a beautiful example of what a Godly wife and mother should be. Thank you. 

Chris, although we couldn't be with you on this day, you were celebrated, prayed for, and thought about. :) When I think about the home my husband grew up in, the values he was taught from you, and the way  he looks up to your work ethic, the way I see your love and commitment to your husband, your church, your family, I am reminded of just what a joy it is to be a part of that family.  You welcomed me in as one of your own kids, and I will forever be thankful & in awe of how blessed I am to have you as my mother-in-law, and the relationship that has formed. I love you!

This year, keeping with tradition, we brunched with our friends the Squires at Oak Ridge Center in Chaska. I look forward to this spread every single year. Some of the best food I've ever had - and we only get it on this special day. Family pictures are a must, and we usually spend a few hours all together. We love this whole big family.

So thankful for family. And now,

TO THE WOMEN IN MY LIFE...

For my moms - I love you both so much. You are the single most special and influential women to me. I love you both to the moon and back. For Cheri - my mentor, my friend, thank you for your Godly example and continual challenge to me. For Shyla - my growing up years spent at your house around your family are coming into view as being some of the most shaping of my life. Although I didn't know it at the time. Seeing you run your household as a woman and mother impacted me more that you know. Sarah - I know I can always call you if I need anything. Thank you for your love for me and for never hesitating to help mother me. Carolyn - you will always be my "momma #2." Always. For my girlfriends who also happen to be mom's - Kait, Mindy, Amber - thanks for your willingness to be open and share the ups and downs of motherhood. You guys are rockstars. For my sister-in-law Lori - you ARE the big sister I never had and a woman in my life whom I look up to. I love you so much.

I thank the Lord each and every time I remember all of you. Happy Mother's Day to you all. 

thankful.

It turned into quite the blustery thanksgiving weekend in Minnesota - and I loved it. It was such a homey holiday, and we shacked up all cozy at my parents house. I am so thankful . Snow is on the ground, and pumpkin pancakes are on the way for a late snack (again) just because I'm not done celebrating yet. What are your thanksgiving traditions? One of the best parts of now having two families is that we can have two sets of rituals. This holiday was filled to the brim with...

Wonderfully snowy walks

Late night Target extravaganza (high on sales!)

Pies. Pies pies pies.

The Squires/Pothast/Johnson holiday traditions.

Homeade breakfast and watching the Macy's parade {recipie for this delish oatmeal coming soon!)

Days with the pups

Watching the cold roll in

Family. How blessed we are. To spend thanksgiving with both our parents, and such dear friends. Our cup is full.

oh, and so was the sink....

It was truly nice to have some time away from my office, away from our house, with my husband and our families. Even though my Saturday was spent doing this...

... it was fun seeing him in his element, and to be able to cheer on the team in the National Tournament. The football team had a phenomenal season, and seeing my hubby do what he does best is really special. Although it was kinda hard to share the weekend, I had to remember that the rest of my weekend was spent doing things like this....

I hope you all had blessed, full thanksgivings. I am reminded of all the places we have been in the past year, and all the ways we have seen the Lord work on our behalf. On our behalf. Even if we didn't know it at the time. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country.” -C.S. Lewis

Mom.

I said a Mother's Day prayer for you
to thank the Lord above
for blessing me with a lifetime
of your tenderhearted love.

I thanked God for the caring
you've shown me through the years,
for the closeness we've enjoyed
in time of laughter and of tears.

And so, I thank you from the heart
for all you've done for me
and I bless the Lord for giving me
the best mother there could be!
-Anonymous

Celebrating and being thankful for a mother and her heart deserves some sunshine. Last weekend we finally hit some nice temps, the trees started blossoming, and the flowers brightened up. This Mother's day weekend stood out for Jared and I as it was our very first time apart since we've been married. Definitely sad, but we both did get some wonderful qulatity time with our moms. I had to work, and he went down to Storden for a family member's wedding. Big bummer. BUT... we both admitted it was so good to get some mom time. Keeping with tradition, we did Mother's Day Brunch at Oak Ridge with the Squires, and as always, it did NOT dissapoint! We're talking, the best gourmet food around, all you can eat, NICE, food. Custom omelettes, steak, pastries, decadant fruit, waffles, and think the BEST of all those things. And even at 11am, who can resist this?

This is the one place that the phrase, "if it looks pretty, it probably dosn't taste that good" does NOT hold up. In the 6 years that our families have been going here for Mother's and Father's day, I have not been disappointed.

Mom - I love you. Even if we didn't go to Oak Ridge for brunch every year and stuff ourselves, I would celebrate the day because of how good a mom and friend you are. Everyone's mother/daughter relationship is different, but I think that we have the best friendship out there. Thank you for being such a wonderful example to me to what a Godly wife and mother look like.

And to Carolyn - I'm thankful for you as a "growing up mom"... I think Alison and I have one of the coolest growing up friendship stories ever. I'm so thankful you are in my life.

And to my mom #2 - Chris, I so wish I could have spent some time with you on Mother's day. I love being your daughter in law!! Thank you for being a wonderful, wonderful mom to my husband, training him up in righteousness, and loving ME like a daughter. I love you. :)

Mother's day just seems bright. Mom's deserve flowers, sun and hugs. I'm so glad I could just be home. (And that mom had such bright, happy flowers out on the deck for me to take pictuers of...) Aren't they pretty?!

So when the Lord decides it's time for me to be a mom someday, I hope that I can be just as loving, comforting, supportive, encouraging, Godly, respectable, hard working, and amazing as my mom is as a mother. Thanks, Mom!!! :) I love you so much, and am so glad I got to spend Mother's Day with you!

The Royal Morning

It was 4:30 am... we were in our jammies, wearing hats, eating scones and drinking tea. There were British flags, magazines on the Royal history, blankets, pillows, and enough feminine enthusiasm about this wedding to think we were actually in England! Close enough. When you spend the Royal wedding with a true British family you feel like the real deal! And I thought traditional English dinners with the Squires were fun!

We piled around the televison - my mom and I, and our best friends Alison and her mom Carolyn (our British hosts), as well as some neighbors and friends. Now, I don't really keep up with celebrities, let alone the royals, but something about this totally intrigued me. I think it was the fact that Kate came from a completely normal British family. Just picturing what her family was thinking boggled my mind. "Oh, there's the Queen... no biggie, it's just my daughter's Grandmother now..." I was rapt. A mulit-million dollar wedding. $82 grand spent on just the trees to put in the church. (Maybe she always wanted an outdoor wedding? Not like the Queen would let that fly.) But somehow, she kept it Grace Kelly chic, simple, classy, and refreshingly different from what I think we were all expecting. (Flashback to Di's wedding dress). It was difficult to even pull myself away from the TV to get at Carolyn's delish spread of food! Don't worry, I managed...

*note: it was 4:30. Excuse all the blurriness, off-centerdness, and greasy hair. :)

We toasted to the newlyweds, continued to gush over how beautiful Kate was, and how Will used to be SO much more attractive with a full head of hair. We picked Carolyn's brain on everything to do with Royal customs, traditions, and who's who.... and I actually really enjoyed it! I didn't realize how intersting that whole family system is. I was so intrigued with finding out lineage, and proper sequence of the crown, all about Queen Elizabeth's family history, what the Brit's really think of Prince Charles, and finding out about the Queen's husband (yah, didn't even know he was still around) and how even though he is the King of England, he holds no real power because it was her blood line and therefore she rules. Weird. How'd you like to be the King of England... but not. I'm finding that I'm much more curious and interested in this family. Having an "inside source" to get the ball rolling helps.  I think I'll be doing some reading.

I totally drank this morning in. My mom was telling my how she still vividly remembers getting up eartly to watch Charles and Di's wedding, and what a fun memory that was. I'm so glad I defied sleep to catch this. Even though it's not my country, it was really moving, and just plain cool, to be apart of British history (along with 2 billion other people I guess). :) To Will & Kate!

A belated tradition

There's something about traditions, in this case with treasured friends, that really make me happy. Normally celebrated on Christmas Eve, this tradition is titled "English Christmas Dinner" and it includes our wonderful friends the Squires. Hailing from that beautiful country, :) they always make the most lavish, tasty, and filling dinner! The table is decorated, has personalized presents for each of us, and beautiful crackers for celebrating. If you're not familiar with this "English cracker" tradition, it's quite fun. Everyone holds one end of what looks like a big tootsie roll, and crosses their arms to hand the other end to the person on their left. Then everyone pulls at the same time, the crackers make a (rather loud) "pop", and each one contains a little present, a joke, and a crown that is to be worn the rest of the night! After dinner, we top off with an (American) birthday cake for Jesus, Christmas pudding (that we light on fire), and their cozy living room! It's an amazing night. Now, it's way past Christmas Eve, and as you can guess this year we had to adjust our schedule a bit. We still enjoyed the tradition, but with a few minor modifications. We don't miss a year, this is serious stuff! :)

Our menu was slightly different this year, not quite as traditionally English as normal, but I'm not complaining! We always get fed well!

As I said earlier, our post-dinner plans are almost the best part of the night. We go into "food coma" and enjoy the fire, and comfy couches. This time, we played a fun group game (mostly to keep our metabolism moving) as the night got later.

What a joy these friends are to us! I'm so thankful the mom's met 23 years ago. :) We did miss Jared, who was managing a NWC athletic event, but he loves this tradition as much as I do.... ...trust me.... :)

A belated Christmas eve wish - in January! hehe!
Stay tuned for some upcoming pictures of what I'm doing now (school wise)! I'll try to get you a glimpse of what my typical Saturday's look like! Hopefully some of Jared and I playing shuffleboard as well. Yah, I said that. :)

Our Thankful Thanksgiving

What a joy it was to spend Thanksgiving in Storden, MN with Jared's awesome family. After arriving Wednesday night in snow, we were joined by 14 of the Johnson's to celebrate all the Lord has done for us! We were not short of food by any means... Chris, Jared's mom, fed us well! My favorite was the cherry, but pecan with a close second.

                       

The "settling" process consisted of a very loud game of Loaded Questions - highly recommended - we haven't laughed that hard in awhile! I'm learning that's what you get when you combine a large crowd of Johnson's plus food. I love my new family. The best part is that they love each other SO much, they love the Lord, and they love to have fun.

Well, in my opinion, "Black Friday" does not mean shopping. It means decorating for Christmas! Jared, his parents Dave & Chris, and I spent the whole day preparing for this wonderful upcoming season! We listened to the classic Christmas songs, watched Miracle on 34th Street, baked cookies, and pretty much played "elves"... bringing Christmas decor to their house! It was AWESOME.

Let's bring in the Christmas season with JOY! These Johnson's are excited... are YOU?