T.J.'s new ride

Yay! Here you have it. To think T.J. thought he wanted the old body style!? Hah! We ended up getting a HECK of a deal on a silver 2004 F-150 extended cab that has the Fx4 package. The guy that sold it to us took this truck in that he bought brand new a couple years ago to trade in and the dealership wasn't going to give him a good deal so he just listed it a little over what he could've gotten for it at a dealership- luckily we found it fast and long story short it's ours!

We did have to drive 3 hours to pick it up but the drive there went by FAST! The drive back? Oh you mean the drive that my GPS took me on some crazy turns and we ended up extending our trip home by an hour? That drive home was rough. I may or may not have had a mini anxiety attack while driving by myself the last hour b/c it was so snowy I couldn't see where I was on the highway. I may or may not have started crying and praying for God to take the wheel :) "JESSUSS TAKE THE WHEEEEL" Okay seriously though- the roads were getting really bad! We drove 20mph for the last hour. Also why is it when you know you could slide at ANY MOMENT on the roads your eye lids STILL try to close b/c it's 2am?! Shouldn't my body know well enough that they need to stay OPEN?! ANYWAYS we did finally make it home a little after 2am!

T.J. may or may not have also called me 2 or 3 times really mad at me/the GPS for going the wrong ways (It's okay he apologized!)

Oh the memories!!!!!!

Thank you everyone for your prayers on this whole situation! God definitely worked it all out and we're super pumped about the truck! I almost refuse to drive it though, the possibility that I might wreck it scares me too much. Knowing you and your husband have each already gotten in a wreck this winter (I've had a ticket too) you just realize YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE WRONG.. or... who knoooows what will happen! It's actually really scary and I think that's why I had a mini freak out last night (T.J. probably wouldn't call it mini!) :) It's like when you're playing a game and you have 1 life left. You play it so much differently b/c you know GAME OVER if you mess up... that's how I feel when I get in a car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why can't I go to sleep?

I'm antsy... I don't know why! I should be in bed- I'm not feeling that well for goodness sakes and I know my body needs its rest... buuut I just can't seem to go crawl in bed, even though I know my bed is warm and toasty from my electric blanket and me sweet husband is there! He always "pats" me goodnight when I get in bed after him and he's asleep :) so sweet. I think I just know I'll be awake for awhile, and I'd rather get sleepy NOW then waiting 20 mins. in bed.

So as I'm sitting here in the office I might as well post some pics that I had fun with using picnik- picnikhttp://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome- do you know what picnik is? If not it's an AWESOME site that's FREE to upload and edit, change and play with pictures. I LOVE it and will probably sign up for the upgraded version.

Here are some pretty flowers Andy and T.J. got me when they went duck hunting and stayed out a litttttttle longer then expected! ;)

T.J. took the dogs out to the woods for 4-5 hours the other day and this is them about to head off. Jade isn't pictured b/c she was running around and not cooperating!

The dogs patiently waiting to be let out of the car! :)

Oh just me and the lovely Mr.

Pretty snow in the woods...

Trying to get the dogs to take a pic...

I love our life. I know it can be stressful sometimes and some days we just are ready for the NEXT day but I have nothing to complain about. I love my God, my husband and my pets that are always with me in NY! :) I am excited about the day that we'll be back or CLOSE to OK though! :)

P.S. Just a little over a week and I'll be "HOME" to OK for Tam's wedding!!!!!!!!!!!! :) YAAAAAAAAAY!

P.P.S. Pray that we will find a truck soon for T.J. and that it will be the "right truck"! :)

Whelp...

So lately I have been really sad... one of my DEAR friends is getting married in 2 weeks and that is a GOOD THING but not when I live in NEW YORK! Tamara has been my friend since HS and we were pretty close back then! We dated younger boys together :) went to concerts, cheered WHS on at football games, all that fun stuff! :) Then college came, we weren't as close but always still good friends. Well whenever I left SandRidge I was able to get her an interview for my position and low and behold she got it! :) I knew she would! SOOO needless to say we talk ALL THE TIME now, almost EVERY DAY :) I love keeping up with Tam and I couldn't ask for a better friend!





Here we are on my wedding day! :)

Okay... now for the big news :) I'm coming to your wedding Tam!! :) I WILL be there! I fly down the 4th of Feb. and fly back the 7th. This was just finalized TODAY. Mike, T.J.'s dad had a voucher for a southwest ticket and GRACIOUSLY gave it to me. Yes, I am serious, I REALLY will be there! :) I thought this would be a fun way to tell you! So get ready!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:) Oh how I love surprises.

Yummy Recipe

Okay so the mom of the twins I watch made a really yummy lunch the other day and gave me the recipe- I made it and of course it wasn't as good as hers but still pretty darn good!

This dish is full of colorful bell peppers, little cheese, yummy chicken and pasta of course! :)

Seriously so easy and yummy...

You will need:
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
and heck if you want an orange pepper add one of those too :)
an onion
black pepper
salt
4-5 chicken breasts
spaghetti noodles (I use 100% whole wheat pasta!)
Goya (the brand) Adobo- this is a "mexican" all purpose seasoning- not hard to find at the grocery store.
1 tbs. ketchup
1 tbs. ceasars dressing (I use fat free)
1/4 c. tomato sauce
olive oil

Saute the sliced peppers, sliced onions & seasoning in a little olive oil until soft.

Take the peppers out after they are soft and then cook the chicken in the oil that is left over. (Add more oil if needed)- season chicken with salt and pepper. When the chicken is almost done, add 1/4 c. of tomato sauce, 1 tbs. ketchup, & 1 tbs. ceasars dressing along with maybe 1/4 c. of the leftover water that you boiled the pasta in- (or just hot water). After mixing put the peppers back in and cook another 2-3 minutes. Take this time to shred the chicken breasts up and mix througout! :)

DONE

Sprinkle with a little cold olive oil after you are done and you can even serve with some fat free mozz. cheese sprinkled on top as well.

When I made this I out it back into a casserole dish and put some fat free mozz. cheese on top and cooked at 200 degrees for another 10-15 mins. SO GOOD.

I hope you like it! I'm so sorry I meant to take pics but I forgot!

Not Me Monday!

I am maaaaaaaaybe posting this actually an hour past Monday :)

Alright lets start this off complimenting me and T.J.'s driving skills! T.J. definitely didn't slam my tire into the curb causing over $1,000 in damage :) I DEFINITELY didn't in turn TOTAL his truck... we know how to drive on these roads!!!

We didn't obtain another pet for this family... no way- why would we need ANOTHER cat? :) 2 dogs and 2 cats is normal for a just married couple, right?!

Being on this new "lifestyle change" I am trying to eat VERY healthy- when I was taken to "5 Guys Burger and Fries" my our landlord and the kids (I really did have no choice) I didn't order what I thought was the healthiest thing to find out later not only did the bun have 280 calories alone but there was another 300+ calories uncounted for... so much for making "good" decisions!

I absolutely didn't have to clean up a 7 yrs. old vomit from our floor- that was from the rug in the living room... all down the hallway into the bathroom :) who knew vomit smelled so awesome... BAAAAAARF.

There's no way I JUST figured out how to record a greeting message on our answering machine. :) I'm to technical for that!

I'm not listening to my husband practice for his presentation in our bedroom right now. :) Better turn my music back on before I get in trouble for "listening"!

T.J. and I don't watch The Bachelor. I DIDN'T get him hooked. We don't like to partake of TRASH. :)

My husband COULDN'T have left me at the auto shop thinking I had already gone home. No husband would just ASSUME that their wife left. They'd call right? I DEFINITELY didn't sit in a car for 45 minutes WAITING for T.J. to come outside only to find out he was already home... and had left 45 minutes earlier... (not to mention our house was 20 mins away) :) I didn't call T.J. and leave him the harshest message EVER. Nope- I'm perfect and never loose my temper!

That's it! :)

Oh yes and I'm NOT awake at 1am- I'm in bed with my husband where I should be! :)

Want to know what I AM doing in 4 hours though? Waking up to make my husband homemade blueberry muffins before his presentation :) NO REALLY! I am! :)

100 things you don't need to know about me :)

I thought it would be interesting to think of just a bunch of random stuff about me and my life and share it with you. :)

1. We have 4 pets (Jade, Troop, Ace & Boy)- with only being married a year and a half this seems like it could turn into a problem if we keep it up.

2. I use an electric blanket every night.

3. I go to sleep with warm pants and socks on and after about 20 minutes take them off- this annoys T.J. and I always find a nice collection of dirty socks under the bed every week or so. :)

4. I like to hunt but can't STAND to see a dead mouse, or a goldfish especially. I might go into hysterics.

5. I might just be a cat lady...I talk to my cats like they understand everything I'm saying. Don't worry T.J. loves them too.

6. I always am scared something is going to happen to T.J. (bad) and I hate it.

7. Instead of my husband shoveling a path in the snow for my car to get out of every day he shovels the WHOLE driveway (which can fit about 5-6 cars). He also shovels the front porch and steps that is rarely used... and get this, he ALSO plows a path to the door of the apartment below our house THAT NO ONE LIVES IN! He knows there is NO POINT but he just CAN'T not do it! Silly T.J.!

8. T.J. and I both like to let the dogs sleep with us sometimes :) we just feel like they couldn't be happier when we let them! (I only do it when I wash the sheets the next day!)

9. I religiously wash my sheets- there isn't a better feeling then fresh clean sheets! Especially when they're warm :) (Thank you Debbie for that electric blanket!)

10. I HAVE to have a spotless kitchen before I go to bed. No dirty dishes. The living room definitely has to be picked up too. Sorry!

11. I read almost every night in bed with a book light, it puts me to sleep and its fun!

12. My favorite part of the day is when T.J. comes home.

13. I have the best family. Immediate and extended. Couldn't thank the Lord enough.

14. I LIVE IN NEW YORK?!!?!? Who would've thought!?!?!?!

15. If someone has a hair tie on their wrist and its too tight- I want to take it off and rub out that little indent it put there, I feel like its just so bad for your skin :( (I've done this with Carlie many times!)

16. I have an obsessive need to be "up to date" with facebook.

17. I have A LOT of friends, I wish I could be REALLY CLOSE with all of them but I don't think that is possible.

18. Although I'm SO EXCITED to have kids and start a family we aren't planning on doing for another 3 1/2 years! (at least- and of course God willing!)

19. I'm secretly pretty competitive, okay maybe its not much of a secret! :)

20. I'm still trying to find out "what I want to do in life"

21. Couldn't be a prouder wife- my man is the hardest and most dedicated guy EVER.

22. The older I get the more things I realize I do like my mom (not a bad thing)

23. Our water at this house smells like rotten eggs b/c it has sulfur in it, which is really nice when you take showers.

24. I'm not going to lie that sometimes I like going to bed after T.J. is asleep b/c then he doesn't care that I cuddle with him and I get to spread across the whole bed! :)

25. My husband is a massive blanket hogger (when he wakes up in the morning and I'm curled up in a freezing fetal position he covers me back up).

26. I'm a bed hogger.

27. I am mad at myself for missing out on broccoli and Chinese food my whole younger life (for some reason I thought I didn't like it!?)

28. I DESPISE.. and hate corn. Don't think you can sneak in a few kernels in that soup or casserole... I will see it, and carefully dip out my bites to avoid a kernel of that horrible stuff.

29. I really like Lady Gagas music.. :)

30. I am a BOOK WORM. Love Francine Rivers. Like I said, I read every night.

31. I want to dye my hair chocolate brown but I'm afraid T.J. won't like it.

32. I love the "3 in 1 laundry detergent" from Purex! What an amazing invention. This keeps me from filling up the detergent to the "Max fill" line even though I have 4 articles of clothing in the washer- I just can't NOT fill the lid to the top- I don't believe that it's that concentrated!

33. I'm desperately missing my pedicure dates with my gfs back home. 2 words: dry feet.

34. I really enjoy paying bills. Not the giving away money part- just the writing checks, putting a stamp on the envelope and mailing it.

35. I might watch too much T.V.- but considering I live in NY I think this is okay. I might cry on The Biggest Loser and American Idol- but that's normal, right?

36. I like that people know we're not from NY when they meet us.

37. My belly button is pierced- that is weird to me. Why is it still there? Oh well.

38. I have a shoe fetish... normally wouldn't be a problem but it is b/c I usually just switch off from 2 pairs of shoes- why do I need another 50 pairs? No... seriously.

39. I cook for another family throughout the week.

40. I might have the weirdest dreams, this week consisted of me being in a school shooting, another girl hitting on T.J. and T.J. ENCOURAGED IT (yes I woke up and was mad still) & some other crazy thing I can't remember at the moment)

41. I kind of want to be Taylor Swift's BFF ;)

42. I can't wait until I see T.J. hold our little baby :) (again.. in YEARS to come)

43. Unfortunately "Farmville" on facebook got me- hook, line, and sinker- I PROMISE I will delete this app sometime this month... how embarrassing! WHO plays on a VIRTUAL farm!?

44. If you post an album on facebook I might just comment on every single picture- but you will love it and that means you are my very dear friend! :)

45. I MIGHT'VE registered for a Twitter account JUST so I can see what Taylor Swift and some other special people are doing... WHOOOPS! It's okay I found out Julia did it too! :)

46. I love to be really immature and silly with my girlfriends.

47. I have started craving "hot drinks" which might lead to coffee- IF there is some special creamer and is all doctored up! Man, I'm not sure if I should even start on that path! I don't want to be the person that HAS to have coffee before they can "function".

48. Why can't we ever wear our wedding dress again? :(

49. Great idea- girls lets have a slumber party and we ALL wear our wedding dresses!!! :) No seriously....

50. I HATE public speaking. I had too many bad experiences. At church the other day the associate pastor asked me to read a verse during the service- I laughed and said I'm sorry that just makes me too nervous! So T.J. did it :) I would LOVE to get "over" this but I just don't know if that's going to happen!

51. I'm SO INCREDIBLY happy that Alabama won the national championship this year- my papa has been WAAAAAAAITING for this! :) He was the sweet grandpa in his bama hat and jacket cheering them on the past couple decades (on his couch)! :)

52. This is my favorite number! Or 13.. I like that number too.

53. I can make a mean dish of orange chicken!

54. I wish I had an accent- like a Puerto Rican accent or something- the women I nanny for is from Puerto Rico so I just like to imitate her to T.J. and pretend.

55. I usually wait between 10-12 week to get my hair done again... crazy I know!

56. I love all types of music, country, pop, blues, classical, soundtracks, hip hop, christian- almost all genres.

57. I really wish I was more athletic. I will try just about anything I'm just not very GOOD at it... I'm hoping one day I will realize I am really great at something. :)

58. When I told my mom I didn't have any special talents she said "but you have sooo many friends Kelly" :) she is so sweet.

59. I love love and am so genuinely happy for people when they find it.

60. I can't stand for hair to be in my hairbrush- I take it all out almost every time I brush my hair.

61. I NEVER used qtips until I got married- now I HAVE to use them or I feel like I am walking around with soggy ears. Ew.

62. I want an iphone but if I had one I'd be on it ALL THE TIME playing words with friends (kellyross13 is my username!) :)

63. I put hand sanitizer all over my blackberry regularly. My keys too sometimes.

64. If you are turning the volume up or down on the T.V. you have to keep it at intervals of 5. I WILL NOT stop the volume at "63" or "59" or something like that- it has to be "60" or "55", you get the point. It's okay, thankfully T.J. feels the same way.

65. I DO NOT GET how people can have trash all lined up on their dashboard and throughout their car. This SICKENS me, sorry I'm not trying to be rude but HOW can you keep fast food trash in there for that long!?!?!?

66. Oh how I love Christmas music. Sometimes if I'm in a sad mood I'll just listen to it and it will make me feel better.

67. Oh how I love vampire books. Who would've ever thought I'd like "sci-fi" but I do- its such a fun escape from this normal world! And YES I have said before in another life I would like to be a vampire :), T.J. choose a werewolf so I guess we'd be archenemies.

68. My husband would go to bed at 8pm every night if he could.

69. I've never had any other car besides the one I have now (my explorer), I credit this to my papa blessing it.

70. T.J.'s now on his 5th car and 2 of them have been totaled by other people! :) (Andy and myself!) Sorry T.J.! But you know you're glad b/c now you get an awesome new trucky!

71. I like to call T.J.- teej, teejy, teejy weejy, teeeeeeeeeejaaaaaaaaaaaaaay or any other "pet names", T.J. just calls me kelly- how boring! :) and yes I just said "teejy weejy" :) haha

72. I hope one day when T.J. and I have a lot of land that I can take in lots of pets and adopt them out to people. I will be writing bios on them like "Hi my name is Sally! I love to swim and bark at the birds, please come adopt me b/c I want a loving home"- I think I would be good at this. :)

73. I really wish I was more creative.

74. I have to curl my eyelashes every day. I was not blessed with gorgeous eyelashes like my husband.

75. I cry when I get pulled over...hard.

76. I'm now scared to sled after getting a bruise the size of a football last time I crashed.

77. I was ALLLLLLWAYS a "mustard girl" I'm realizing that I DO LIKE mayo on my sandwiches now! (NOT on a burger though) :)

78. I miss the days driving with Carlie when we were 15 and didn't have licenses :) hehehe

79. I can't believe I used to think I wanted to be a cop- WHO AM I KIDDING? Dark alleys, bad guys, guns? That's funny.

80. I wish I could get a massage weekly. Who doesn't though.

81. I've NEVER had a facial- always wanted one!

82. The first night of our honeymoon in Mexico I accidentally SLAMMED my head on the edge of a marble slab. It was bleeding and I got a huge goose egg. That's embarrassing.

83. I think I'm wearing Andy's socks right now... sorry Andy I think you left them here :)

84. I would be fine if the only place I could shop the rest of my life was Target.

85. I notice people's teeth and hands/feet when I meet them. Not sure why. I think its about hygiene- please take care of yourself!

86. God giveth, and God taketh away. I have learned to trust Him in all aspects of my life- or at least I to try remind myself to do this!

87. I miss my dad ALL THE TIME. It doesn't really ever get that much easier- every step in life I wish he was here. On to number 88 before I start crying!

88. I am so thankful for James :) God is so good.

89. Did I mention my mom is my hero?

90. I love space heaters. I hate being cold. That's not good considering I live in the coldest place EVER right now. Thank goodness for down jackets and warm Uggs! And plenty of scarves! Oh and long underwear too!

91. Sometimes I have cravings for things SO BAD I think I'm going to panic if I don't get it. I used to do this growing up with Gatorade.. now I do it with orange juice.

92. I've ran a 1/2 marathon- something I NEVER thought I could do. I WILL ONEEEE DAAAY run a full marathon.

93. Jennifer Aniston is my favorite actress- she is GORGEOUS. I don't have a favorite actor.

94. I can't just sweep, if I sweep I also swiffer and then use my wet jet. Talk about a process.

95. I used to tell Julia I was a genie, and she believed me :) HAHA.

96. I usually DON'T like watching a movie more then once- I have to REAAAAAAAAAAALLY like it to be okay with watching it more than once.

97. I miss writing "Kelly Brown" sometimes- as much as I love Kelly Ross.

98. Can Wheel of Fortune PLEAAAAAAAAAAAASE let me be on their show? I need to win some trips!

99. What I would do to go back and spend another night in the SNU townhouse with Kendi when we were roomies- watching WOF every night, procrastinating on HW, making videos, and sleeping through our classes! :)

100. I had the perfect proposal. Surprised and everything.

Think thats enough? :) I'll leave it at that.

Wreck #2 down!

Well if my car trouble wasn't enough I had to go and wreck T.J.'s truck a couple days later! I won't bore you with the details b/c most of our family and friends know now b/c of facebook but basically I was going too fast on a curve (I didn't THINK I was going to fast- who knew SLUSH was so slippery?! Not me!) Well I ended up spinning T.J.'s truck into oncoming traffice (THANK YOU LORD NO ONE WAS THERE) and ended up slamming into some trees in a ditch... NOT FUN. Suprisingly I was prrrretty calm (besides the bawling phone call to T.J. which I DID make sure to say "I'm okay" first even though he couldn't understand it!) That is one thing my mom taught me, always let the person know you're okay FIRST THING before you start blubbering and not making any sense! :) We are almost positive his truck is totaled but we won't be for sure until the adjuster calls us on Monday. I really am just praising the Lord I am okay b/c it was definitely one of the scariest moments in my life- I literally just closed my eyes (once I knew there was no fixing going off the road) and prayed! I was picturing myself in an ambulance and seriously injured at the hospital! Thank you Lord for keeping me safe! I was sore the next 2 days but I'm pretty much back to normal now!

The truck...

Sorry T.J.! :( In all honestly though we are kind of hoping it IS totaled- we loved the Ranger but it could only seat 2 people and this has started to become a problem for us. PLUS not that we are planning on having kids anytime soon but we WON'T be able to use this car at all when we have a little one with us! (That's weird even saying!)

SO- we have had a PRETTY stressful week to say the least. T.J. started back up with school and he has only a million things going on and I'm TRYING to start back up with babysitting but with the roads being so bad I can't do that every day. The day I got in the wreck I was actually going to nanny.

Yay for the weekend! T.J. is out duck hunting right now (last weekend of the season) and I think he limited out.

ALSO :) Tomorrow morning T.J. and I are assigned to watch the "Tiny Tot" room at church. Can I just laugh right now? Don't get me wrong- we'll do FINE! But I am already laughing thinking about T.J. consoling babies and so on! :) Hehehe, I'm sure I'll have a great blog about it!

Home (Sweet?) Home...

I'm kind of sick to my stomach that last time I blogged I was so excited to be HOME (In OK) and now I'm back in NY... BLAH. Sorry NY you are just not the same. I admit- T.J. and I both were SO EXCITED to see our pets but after a day you realize they are just pets and family is a little cooler. (Sorry Troop, Jade, Ace & Boy) Speaking of Boy... Boy is the little kitty we are watching for our friends- we have to give him back to his family tomorrow and I am NOT happy about it. I love this kitty like he is mine now. Ace and Boy are BEST FRIENDS and Ace might hate us after we separate them. Although... we will have a lot less spilled vases, torn up decorations, and less claw marks from where Boy tries to CLIMB UP YOUR BODY to your head...Alright enough of the animal talk- I realize my friends and family love me but have officially started to call me the cat lady and laugh about how I always have animal pics and stories... what do you expect??? We don't have family up here and few friends!! :) So you might just have to deal with it.

Boy and T.J. taking a Sunday afternoon nap

On a happy note :) Andy is here! Andy is our college friend and one of T.J.'s best friends for sure. That was another positive thing about coming home- we had a friend coming! I will put some pictures up of Andy and T.J.'s duck hunting expeditions. It was Andys first time duck hunting and besides the FREEZING weather, they had a great time. It was also nice to have Andy here when my SUV slammed into the curb.. whoops! Having 2 boys instead of just T.J. replace the tire was a lot easier I think. I'll also post a picture of the tire... the rim literally busted open. We just learned we also have to replace the tie rod and a ball joint??? or SOMETHING like that so this will not be a fun week :( BUT I'm just thanking God my car is not broken forever and that everyone is okay.

T.J. and Andy with their ducks

Literally ripped the aluminum apart! Eeck..

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy New Year's Day! I could go on and on and ON about our trip home. I can't start to tell you how nice it was to see all of our family and friends. The time went by way too fast of course but we ALMOST saw everyone we wanted to.. I really wish I could've seen Emily and Cody of course though and Donna Walker from my old work, & Megan-Joy! :( Next time for sure!! Going home reminded T.J. that he does want to work in OK if possible when he graduates Cornell so that was a very good thing! :) One thing I appreciated the most about being home was the overwhelming sense of love and support around us. I don't take that for granted! Coming home I was MORE homesick then before because it was like I was ripped out of that again :( Oklahoma had an INSANE blizzard which was a LIIIIITTLE annoying considering we have crazy snow and freezing temperatures here in NY, BUT mostly it was just fun because it was so exciting and unexpected. 14 inches in 5-6 hours I think! 3 days before that though we had a day when it was SIXTY DEGREES OUTSIDE! Can you imagine how happy I was?! No jacket or anything! My mom was laughing at me because she said when I left the house I just had a HUGE grin on my face like a little girl! :) Of course I miss my mommy the most! Girls just aren't supposed to be far away from their moms I think.

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE- I get insecure sometimes about my blogs, I want them to be fun and interesting to read but I've realized that all your blogs can't be like that! SO- I'm going to STOP worrying about that right now and just tell you everything that I'm thinking :) Sorry. I just waited to long to blog so I have a lot of things to say!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is Christmas Eve at T.J.'s grandparents house. We eat chili, read the Christmas story from the Bible, sing carols (HA! I will try and upload a video of this), open presents, have birthday cake for Jesus, and then open "Christmas letters". Christmas letters are just letters we right one another (if you choose to) telling that person whatever you want to tell them! :) How much they mean to you, why you are thankful for them, etc. Oh! I almost forgot! T.J.'s grandpa (Bob Ross) spent the past 6 months writing a book about his history- his dad and grandpa and from then on- I admit I haven't got to start reading it yet because its being shipping from OK to here but I am SO excited to read it. I truly feel like I have 3 sets of grandparents now and I love that feeling. My papa and gran, grandpa and grandma ross and papa and grannie! :) I love gaining more family!

Christmas day was great of course too! T.J.'s papa and grannie are always there which is AMAZING- it WOULDN'T be the same without them there all the way from Stigler. I can't even list out the generous gifts I was given BUT I will share with you the Uggs T.J.'s parents helped me get! Click HERE. LOVE THEM- I got them in chocolate brown. T.J. got a lot of camping gear he was wanting and I got him a bear hunting DVD b/c that is his goal next year- to get a bear. Yeah I'm not sure how I feel about that!!!

We got our Mexican fix while we were home too! :) We had a homecoming dinner at Teds which was DEEEELICIOUS. We also got our Johnnies and Braums fix :) and yes my mom had Braums eggnog waiting for us :) and Debbie even made some homemade! They know us well. Alright this is when I have to stop talking about food... me and T.J.'s resolution for the new year is to live a healthier lifestyle... maybe I should go eat another carrot stick (blah) for my growling stomach, doesn't that sound scrumptious? :) SO if you have any healthy yummy recipes will you please send them my way? Thanks!

We went to a Thunder game our last night in OKC and here is a short video I took of T.J. and Troy :) Mostly I'm just posting this b/c they will be annoyed that I did it (hehe) I will have to start off by telling you that I was trying to make them make the "ugliest face" they could make... might I say I think my husband has it DOWN?! :) lol

Well tomorrow our routine starts back up again. I start watching the twins again, MWF from 8-12. I will be busy with that and watching the other 2 kids and cooking. On a side note I did apply for a position at the hospital here in NY... just praying for God's perfect plan. I almost always have 1 or 2 applications in at Cornell and Ithaca College, the competition here is fierce! Ideally I'd like to start a "real job" in the fall- it would be nice to still have the flexibility I have now throughout the summer.

Well it's still snowing up here. There's about 8 inches out in the back. The roads aren't very good at all (obviously considering my car basically did a cartwheel off a curb). It's cold.. very cold- in the negatives with the windchill almost every day. I wear long johns almost every day under my clothes. :) Oh! I also about broke my leg while sledding :) You can watch the video HERE of me, T.J. and Andys sledding adventure. It's not very exciting unless you want to see Andy fall a lot so you can just fast forward to the end to watch me fall. :) I will post a picture of my bruise later- it's about as big as my hand opened wide and black :) YUP. The guys apologized to me for thinking I was a baby after they saw my leg. AWW the guys also bought be flowers (Lilies one of my favorite!) and Andy treated me and T.J. to a movie (Nine) that was all fun... except the movie wasn't a total winner.

My bruise- this was pretty much a little after it happened. Now its all black. Worse unfortunately.

Are you asleep yet? :) Sorry. My life just isn't the most interesting! The boys are out with the dogs and I'm here to fend for myself. I think I'm going to go read a bit. T.J. got me a couple books for Christmas and right now I'm on the THE LINEAGE OF GRACE which is UUUGHHMAZING- seriously... amazing. I've learned so much about women in the Bible and I think everyone should read it b/c you can't put it down! I totally can hear Jesus speaking to me through it!

Love to you all!

P.S. I love reading- duh. If you ever want some good suggestions I would love to point you to some great reads!

P.P.S. I really wish someone was here to rub my back or play with my hair. Not fair.

P.P.P.S. My stomach is growling and instead of carrot sticks I REALLY just want to get the tub of icing out of the fridge and eat that.

P.P.P.P.S. But I won't- at least not today.

P.P.P.P.P.S.- I'm sorry for all the PS's. I'm just bored, hungry and jamming out to pandora.com :) Love me some Whitney Houston! (Anyone remember the Preacher's Wife Soundtrack.. Caitlin???) :)