We Don't Want Blessings We Want You

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was very thankful that Jesse made it home for the holiday. We went to church on Thanksgiving morning. We sang the song Open Up the Sky by Deluge. The chorus of the song goes:

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want You
Open up the sky, fall down like fire
We don't want anything but You

This hit me. The thought of not desiring blessings, only desiring Him. Such a powerful message. I am often hoping for wonderful things to happen to our family and less often just wanting Him. It doesn't matter what our earthly lives have in store for us, as long as we have God in our lives, we have an internal life that is full of the biggest treasure every imagined.

Check it out:



Also at church, Jesse got asked during the middle of service to come up on the stage in front of 500+ people. Jesse looked a little panicked, to say the least. Pastor Dean asked him questions about his military service and also asked him what he was most thankful for that day. Jesse, being the good husband he is, he said he was most thankful for his wife. Awwwww! So sweet, until the pastor asked me to stand up in the congregation, I think I turned 10 shades of red. But... we got through it.

After church, we headed over the my parents house and had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner full of family, friends, and delicious food.



My little brother, Brandon, and his amazingly sweet fiance, Jennifer.



My nephew and niece Gabe and Grace.



Hunter and Jesse



My parents working hard at making Thanksgiving dinner.

Hunter's Own Bathroom!

I should be banned from Pottery Barn Kids. I walk into that store and I feel like a kid in disneyland. The simple patterns and designs, soft materials, bright colors... I could go on and on.

I went in there to get Hunter's Christmas present, an Anywhere Chair with a red slipcover. I left with the chair, a gift for our nephew, and an entire new bathroom decor for Hunter. Whoops.

Here is a before picture:



And the after pictures (I realize I need to steam press the curtain, just not motivated this early on a Sunday morning) :

Go Huskies!

Hunter with his Grandma Kim, in their UW Husky attire.

Thankful Thursday

As Thanksgiving approach, many of us take this opportunity to ponder what we are truly thankful for.

1. My parents. My parents give and give and give. They give differently to each of their kids, depending on what their need is. I love this because so many times people get caught up in being "fair and equal" to their kids, and that usually means that each kid gets the same exact things. In my case, my parents give me a hand, well actually many hands. My dad watches Hunter for most of the day and then my mom takes over for the last couple hours until I get off work. It is amazing to be able to go to work and know that your child is being loved to pieces and taken care of wonderfully.

2. I am thankful for my husband and his sacrifice to serve our country.

3. I am thankful for eggnog lattes.

4. I am thankful for Hunter's sleep schedule. The kid sleeps 11-12 hours straight each night!

5. I am thankful for Honey Crisp apples.

6. I am thankful for Christmas music.

What are you thankful for today?

Freedom Through Faith

Over the last few months, in my walk with God, a sense of freedom has overcome me. For those who know me, you probably also know that I tend to be somewhat of a control freak and also a major planner. I have been freed of my anxiety through my faith. I know that my thoughts are not His thoughts, and no matter how much I try to control, I need to release all control to Him. He knows what is best, I do not. All I can do is remain faithful to Him and trust Him and let everything else fall into place.

He has never promised a trouble free life, but He does offer the strength and determination to get through anything and everything that we face. He also takes those burdens off our shoulders and happily puts them upon His. “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken” Psalm 55:22.

In our family, our future is uncertain. Jesse has a little over a year left before his second enlistment in the Air Force is over. We can get orders at any time to move wherever we are told to. This used to be a huge stress on me. When I take this burden on myself I worry about owning two homes in this economy, that I won’t have a job where we move, for the first time in my life I will be far away from my family and friends, the list goes on and on. I can honestly say I have cast this care upon Him. I am not at all worried about our future, because I trust that He has wonderful plans for our future and they are so much more perfect than anything I could plan or prepare for.

To others, He has so much freedom to offer. He can take away any struggle with addiction, loss of a loved one, emotional and psychological bondage, job loss, marriage problems, and the list goes on and on. It is not weak to cry out to Him, it is strength!

Weekend in Review - with ZERO pictures

I had a four day weekend and it was wonderful! And I so wish I was able to share pictures of many of the things that we did… but I forgot my camera at work! Boo! But I figured I’d tell you all about it anyways.

Thursday – We celebrated our own Veteran, Jesse, with a family day. We went to lunch at Applebee’s, where Jesse got a free meal for his service. Then we did a little shopping at Nordstrom Rack and Target. We actually behaved ourselves very well and just bought necessities. Then we went to the Snoqualmie Casino for dinner at the buffet with my parents. It was Brazilian Night and staff came around with huge skewers of meat, prawns, scallops, and grilled pineapple and sliced it onto our plates. So yummy!

Friday – Jesse and I kind of split the day with Hunter. He went Hunter early in the morning while I stayed home with Hunter, got things done around the house, and dyed my own hair much darker! Pictures to come… once I get my camera back! Once he got home, I headed out to meet up with my friend, Jessica, for lunch and some shopping. I went to college with Jessica and then we worked together for about a year at a public accounting firm. I don’t get to see her enough and we need to change that! I consider her a close friend and love our conversations dearly, I haven’t informed her of this yet… but we are going to start hanging out on a much more regular basis. Hear that, Jessica?

Saturday- Jesse left first thing in the morning for a 10 day mission. I got up bright and early and started some housework and caught up on shows. Hunter and I headed to The Little Gym for our weekly class and then had a date at Jamba Juice with our friends Rachel and Cole. Hunter took a long nap at home and then we headed down to Lacey for a friend’s baby shower. And if you think we couldn’t pack anymore into one day, we headed over to our friends’ house, Zack and Sarah, for evening to visit. I had such a great time visiting with Sarah while our boys quietly played with each other and billions of toys they have.

Sunday – Hunter and I got out of the house early to do some shopping for Operation Christmas Child. I choose to fill a shoebox full of toys, gloves, socks, etc for a 2-4 year girl in need. I made a vow before entering the store that I would not buy anything except things for this special shoebox and stuck with it. Yay! We then headed up North to go to my sister’s church. The pastor had a wonderful message about serving others. The Operation Christmas Child was held at her church after the service, such a great cause! And then we headed to my cousin’s house to meet baby Magnus, who was born last Sunday.

We had such a busy, but amazing weekend full of fun, family, and friends. I just wish I would’ve had my camera!

Wish List

With Christmastime approaching, who isn't guilty of making a mental wish list? Okay, now mine is about to break into virtual and not just mental :) These are some of the things that I've been wishing for and swooning over online!



1. Kuerig Coffee Maker I've wanted one of these for awhile... because Jesse makes coffee too dang strong! We cannot each enjoy a cup of coffee from the same cup. When I drink his coffee, I just about have to chew it! I would love one of these to make coffee time so much more enjoyable for me.

2. Pottery Barn Bedford Desk I am seriously in love with this desk and would love to have it to make a "me" space in our home. Jesse has the garage full of his hobbies, Hunter has his room and pretty much everywhere else, I have no where. This desk and chair look like a dream come true in my mind.

3. Lululemon Remix Hoodie I know I already have enough hoodies and jackets from Lululemon, but I really don't. The remix hoodie is much heavier weight... so I need another one for colder weather, right???

4. Timbuk2 Snoop Bag This is a SLR camera bag that Timbuk2 just came out with. I would love to have this bag for my camera! My camera bag is just so big and bulky and this one would fit so much better under my arm and I could throw a couple diapers in it and call it good!

5. Countdown Blocks I love these military countdown blocks to countdown the days until daddy comes home. I think this would be a wonderful thing to have in our home since Jesse is away so often.

What is on your wish list this year?

Working Mom Wednesday

I'm linking up with Working Mom Wednesday this week.




This weeks question:

#1. Eat out or brown bag with co-workers? Lunch room or desk? What your typical work lunch like?

I actually go to my parents house (only a few blocks from my work) to spend my lunch with Hunter. I typically spend the first 5 minutes eating something for lunch quickly and then spend the rest of the time with Hunter. We play, he points at all sorts of things, he "woofs" out the dining room windows like the dogs do. I am very thankful that I get to spend almost my whole lunch break with such an incredible little boy. :)

Flashback Friday: New Zealand

Thanksgiving is approaching and I am constantly thinking back to last November when we had a wonderful trip to New Zealand. Jesse was scheduled to go to New Zealand/Antarctica for a month for Operation Deep Freeze. He had wanted me to take Hunter, but I chickened out... until the very last minute.

Jesse was leaving on a Thursday evening and on Thursday afternoon, I changed my mind. I suddenly wanted to take advantage of my maternity leave and take 6 week old Hunter on an adventure. So, in the few hours before Jesse left, we got his consent to take Hunter out of the country notarized, got Hunter's passport pictures taken, and made phone calls into the Passport Agency. When Jesse left that evening, we were not sure that we would be able to get Hunter's passport in time to make the trip.

I made an appointment at the downtown Seattle Passport Agency to make a claim to get Hunter a passport immediately. In order to be seen, I had to have proof of travel in Hunter's name... which means I had to book the ticket for both of us to New Zealand before they would even see us. We were just in luck, we were seen Friday morning and they said to come back at 4pm and pick up Hunter's passport! So... we were on our way to New Zealand on Sunday afternoon for a 2 week trip.

It was a long 24 hours! Our trip was: Seattle to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Auckland, and then Auckland to Christchurch. I was so happy to see Jesse once we landed in Christchurch! We had a wonderful 2 weeks, which included: trip to Akaroa, Christchurch Zoo, Gondola trip, overnight trip to Hanmer Springs, and much much more.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

Trip to Minnesota

Here are some pictures from our trip to Minnesota, November 3-7. We had a great time visiting Jesse's family. Jesse's mom was frantically preparing for her move to Washington D.C. to take a new job. She has taken a job working under Michelle Bachmann at the capitol. Michelle's views are not really my cup of tea, but I am so happy for Renee for following her beliefs and calling!

The first night we were there, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. It's tradition for us to go their because we don't have any of them in Seattle. So good!

Hunter with his cousin, Gavin, at Buffalo Wild Wings. Gavin turned two in September. He is such a lovable little boy!




Friday morning, Jesse, Hunter, and me, got up early and headed up the the Twin Cities for the Day.

These are some pictures from this huge barn that had thousands of types of candy for sale! We stocked up and ate most of it that day! Our candy picks included: gummy coke bottles, war heads, cadbury chocolate bars, bon bons, pink and white coconut bar, and some red vines. Mmmmmm.

Here is Hunter wondering the aisles of candy and Jesse being excited about all the candy!





After the big candy barn, we headed straight to the Mall of America! I love that place! We were still pretty hungry, even after the candy binging on the way there, so we headed to the Rain Forest Cafe for lunch.

Hunter loved all the fish and stared at the "lightening storms" as if he was very concerned.





Then we headed to the amusement park in the middle of the mall. Jesse and I each took Hunter on a ride. He was pretty serious while on them, but we like to think he had a wonderful time! He fell asleep before we used all of our ride tickets, so I ended up going on the roll coaster and log ride by myself. Jesse refused to ride any rides by himself, I guess it's just pretty uncool.







On Saturday, we spent the day visiting family. First stop was to the Doyle's, Jesse's paternal grandparents. A couple of Jesse's aunts were there, too! Here is Hunter with his Great Grandma and Grandpa.





Hunter fell asleep on the way to visit the other side of Jesse's family, so he slept on the coach for a little while after we got there. We were so excited to see that so many showed up to his aunt's house to say hi! There were probably 20+ people there.

Longest Day Ever!

Jesse flew out to Minnesota the week before Halloween to help his parents move and do some hunting. So, at the last minute, I agreed to bring Hunter out for the last four days of Jesse’s stay out there. We had a really good trip, but Wednesday turned out to be a horribly hard and stressful day for me. So let’s talk about Wednesday and the early hours of Thursday.

I woke up at 4am to get everything packed and ready to go for our trip. I was folding laundry, packing clothes, doing dishes, getting ready for work, etc. I know you are probably thinking, “Why didn’t you just do this all the night before?” Well, unfortunately I don’t really work that way. I did get a lot of stuff done the night before, but I am WORTHLESS after 8pm for the most part. I am not a night person, I would much rather wake up early than to stay up late. So, that’s what I did.
I got out the door with Hunter ready to go and all our bags packed by 6:15am. Got to work and had somewhat of a stressful day. I left work a little early because I had an appointment with a lady to alter about a dozen pair of my dress pants because they are now too big.

I then left Hunter with my parents so I could head over to tryouts for the club volleyball team that I co-direct. We didn’t end up having as good of a turnout as we had hoped for, which got me bummed out. I was at the gym from about 6-9pm. I got back to my parents house, rearranged some things in my bag and then my mom took us to the airport. We got all checked in and got to the terminal at around 11pm. Hunter proceeded to run around, touch everyone’s luggage, steal another little boy’s blanket and eat his goldfish, etc. He was non-stop! We finally boarded the plane around 12:30am and he didn’t like that he couldn’t walk around. He cried and screamed until 2am and then finally passed out on my lap.

I was so thankful that Jesse was at the baggage claim waiting for us, after a 24+ hour day I was completely exhausted. But… we made it and had a great trip. So in the end, it was all worth it.

I'll be posting some pictures from our trip soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Getting to Know Me

Let’s dig a little deeper. Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C, When you sing you begin with… Finish the song for me :)
My parents were college sweethearts at University of Washington. They got married between their junior and senior years and then had me 13 months later. They divorced not too long after and went their separate ways.

My mom remarried when I was four, to a wonderful man who already had three children from two previous marriages. He had full custody of his youngest daughter, Julia, and he and my mom soon after had my little brother, Brandon. His two oldest children, Eddy and Kerri, lived with their mother in the area. That’s the way we all became the Sales Bunch. The Sales Bunch. Wow, I’m breaking out in song today.

My dad remarried a few years later and they had two children. I have a sister (16) and brother (11). They live in the general area as well.

More to come...