Happy Halloween!

Hope you all are having a good weekend!

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Brent and I aren't dressing up this year, but we are still having a pretty good weekend :)

Brent did have the perfect costume picked out for he and Cohen :(

Cohen's angel outfit is beautiful, I'm sure.

Here we are last year....

My homemade ladybug costume. It did have store bought antennas and wings (forgot to put on for pic).

You may first remember seeing this picture from this post (announcing baby Cohen). We went to a fun party last year, recapped here.

I didn't use my awesome punch bowl for anything this year, but hopefully I will next year!

As I previously might have mentioned,  most of my fall decor is still in storage. Besides the pumpkins I crafted with here, these are the only Halloween goodies I put out....

Reminder- the link I listed above, that takes you to my pumpkins, also has a Mr. Linky in it if you want to add the link to where you posted about your pumpkins! I love to see everyone's.

I'll have a few pics to post from the weekend along with November's sponsor post and a giveaway!


oh, and I'm planning to do a hair post!

Slideshow Played at Our Wedding

Thank you all for the anniversary wishes!! Since we are still celebrating our anniversary, I thought I would share this slideshow. It played throughout our rehearsal dinner. It's basically old pics of Brent and myself starting from when we were itty bitty up until after we were engaged. Yes, the first picture of us, he does have a black eye. He had been in a four wheeler accident.

We provided the pictures and songs and the videograpeher put it together.

Also, today is my brother's 28th birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HIM!!! :) He can be seen next to me in several of the pictures in the slideshow.

{an ad might pop up on the video but you can click it off so it doesn't cover the picture :)}


{It won't play in Germany because of the music copyright. Sorry}

We went to dinner last night and we are going again tonight :)

I tweeted about and showed pictures my new bangs. They are pinned back today. I'm still adjusting. Now, debating to try natural hair color since I'm allergic to the real deal. Perhaps I'll do a post on that soon.

Hope you all are having a good Friday!

Our Anniversary :)

Today Brent and I have been married for four years :)

We were fortunate to have the day we said "I do" in the crisp month of October. The day was perfect and the wedding was perfect :)

I met Brent my second week of college. We started dating closely there after. I was 18 years old and he had just turned 21 (I was turning 19 a few months after). That was in 2002. We have now been together for 8 years. We did live together before we got married. That worked for us. I wouldn't have changed a thing. We dated four years before we got engaged.  You can read about our engagement story here :) It's part of the reason I love NYC so much!

I think we've done really "good" at marriage. I don't really know what I mean by that, besides we have our ups and downs, but we are always good. Marriage is something you have to work at. You have to give as much as you take. You have to talk a good portion as much as you think.

This year, Brent and I have experienced the greatest joy in life and we've experienced the biggest tragedy in life. All in two weeks. I think those can be seen in these two slideshows. They can't be felt by anyone but us, and that alone is sacred. Of course, we hope no one ever has to experience losing a child. At Cohen's Memorial service, the pastor really spoke to us about being there for one another and for our marriage. I never had a doubt that we wouldn't be, but we listed to him. We still have a marriage no matter what happens to us. We have to keep working at it like we did before. We are different people than we were before the greatest joy and the biggest tragedy. We weren't parents like we are now. Unfortunately, we are now parents with no baby to hold.

I'll stop now. I just think this year a marriage has meant a lot to us. Our marriage has grown. I knew a marriage was not all about the big day, but all the big days that follow. I think it's all about the vows on the big day. Nothing makes what we've been through this summer easier, but I sure am glad Brent is the one I've had by my side :)

So, I dug a few pictures out I hadn't posted before....at least I don't think I have. I know they are pictures of pictures, but I don't have a scanner.  I know when I was pregnant, I always talked about posting pictures of us when we were little. I came across that box the other day and I'll now post just a few.

For accurate measures, here is our proudest picture....

I think my second favorite picture of us this year is this one. This was on my birthday 1.4.10. Cohen was definitely visible and we had not yet found out about his broken little heart. It is a family picture.

 Now here are a few old ones....

This was during the first few weeks we started dating....

This was during an engagement photoshoot.

Here are a few from us as little Brent and little Meg....

Happy Anniversary, honey! love you!

Summer's Dad

I will be participating in a day of silence for Summer's dad, Butch, tomorrow (10/27). He lost his battle with cancer at the age of 59. His memorial service is from 9-11am.

Summer has been a wonderful and supportive blog friend to me for more than a year now. She has been through so much my heart just hurts for her. I continuously pray for her to become a mommy.

Please lift Summer and her family up in prayer today, as I now it helps. Love you, Summer!

 A few of Summer's friend set the day of silence up and if you wish to participate, there is also a linky on her blog.

Speaking of prayers, do you remember sweet Hailey? I hosted a giveaway with her mom to assist with her medical bills. Well, she is back in ICU :( Please include her in your prayers. A donation button has also been added to their blog.

Thanks, everyone!

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.  - 2 Corinthians 4:8-11

Trip to the ER, Warhol, Pumpkins, etc.

So, Saturday I morning I woke up and was having sharp pains on the left side of my stomach. I laid around and they pretty much went away. I really thought maybe I pulled a muscle or something because I exercised more last week than I had in a while year. I had a few pains off and on on Sunday but by Sunday night, nothing.  About 7pm on Monday night, I started getting sharp pains again. I thought maybe it's gas or my new vitamins. I woke up at 5am this morning and still had sharp shooting pains. Well, those aren't really Google type things. I know my appendix, gallbladder, liver, etc would primarily cause right side pains. After Google and a continuous state of leaning over in pain, I decided I should probably go get it checked out.  After 3 hours in the ER, an IV, urine sample & blood work, the doctor determined it was more than like likely a bad muscle strain. I told him that was my first guess but I thought it was so odd that it hurt so bad Saturday morning and not again until Monday night. Thanks, exercise!! : /   He told me a few things to do to maybe help the pain. He said if it's still causing me issues in a week then he may check the colon as that's probably the only other thing it could be. I feel better having gone already. I kind of felt like a wimp when I left but it HURT and still does. He said my lab work looked great. That is good. Good news that my liver enzymes are okay. Hopefully that means I'll be starting metformin soon.

So you all have asked a few questions in the last few posts. I've been meaning to get back to you on the answers!

The fake pumpkins from my pumpkin post. I mostly bought at Hobby Lobby. They were already half off several weeks ago so they were cheap! I believe Michael's has them too. I haven't painted new ones every year, but the past two years I have. However, since the below are mostly fake, I can use them again year after year if I want :) I can also paint and add more!

Nope, I did not paint the Elton Warhol canvas. My mother-in-law is a photographer. The picture of Elton was from a photoshoot she did one Christmas. She designed it, had it printed and gifted it to me for Christmas. I love it. It is a bit pricey, but to me, worth it. I'm speaking to her about a few things regarding it, but if you are interested, shoot me an email and I can give you some details :)

The Otterbox I posted is pink and it is for the iPhone 4 :) I know a lot of you mentioned you didn't know they had pink and I got a few emails asking if it was compatible with the 3. It's not. I got it at a local AT&T store when I got my phone.

The VIA vanilla is Starbucks version of instant coffee! You can mix it with warm or cold coffee.They come in individual packets for an 8 ounce serving.

I can't remember if I said thanks on all the comments on Cohen's memorial slideshow post and my post about the taking him to baseball games. Thank you all :) I may definitely take some of you up on offers to games! We would love to meet you all.

I think that is it for now! If you've asked a questions and I haven't answered shoot me an email.

Oh! GroopDealz is offering another special on the Jamberry Nails shields - $7.50 for 1 sheet of shields ($15 Value) - FREE SHIPPING. There is a video on how they work and all. I'm thinking of getting a few for stocking stuffers for my nieces :)

Have a good day!

Weekends - iphone addict + recipe

This post actually has pictures from last weekend and the weekend that just ended. So from the previous two weekends, I guess you would say. I got my new iphone Friday before last, and well, I can't seem to put it down. The camera is fun and quick. All these pictures were taken with it. I hope you don't get tired of seeing our sweet nieces and nephews. We clearly can't get enough of them :p Last weekend we didn't do much of anything. Well, I guess this weekend was a bit of the same way, except today was Brent's younger sister's 16th birthday :) We had birthday dinner for her! Happy sweet 16, Kate!

1. I thought the sky looked really pretty so I took a picture. Yes, impressed my iphone captured it.
2. Elton cuddles, a lot.
3. I was kind of a hormonal wreck last Saturday. Since Brent was working in the yard, he decided to pick me some of our flowers for a smile.
4. us :)
5. Best ahi tuna eeeeever. We picked up Outback for dinner one night last weekend.

Last Saturday was my mom's birthday. She had the girls over to decorate pumpkins and cupcakes.

I snapped pics, of course :) Me, Morgan & Beaux joined them, too.

My mom found the fun cupcake recipe in a magazine. I'll see if she still has it. The bottom pumpkin picture has those little eyes on it. They are the kind that move around. fun.

playing hard....

For some reason these weeks seem to be flying by. Friday night, B & I went to his sisters for dinner. Since they have 3 little ones, it's usually easier for us to go to their house since they are putting them down for bed. Always entertainment :)

We had fun on playing with the Wig It app, but I haven't saved the pictures to the photo library yet.

I should be honest and tell you that we pretty much laid in bed ALL day on Saturday. It rained. It stormed. It rained some more. It was really dark outside most of the day. I felt pretty lazy, but I really didn't care. 

Sunday, I picked up around the house while Brent watched football. Then, for dinner we celebrated Kate's birthday :)

 

{I stole this pic off her facebook. She is pretty cute!}

I have yummy pictures I tweeted from the dinner. I'm saving those for another post as I gather some recipes.

Here are the last two sweet pictures for now. The girls in their glowing glasses and baby Paxton!

Hope you all had a good weekend!

Thanks for the pumpkin comments. Feel free to add yours to the linky! I know a few of you had and emailed with questions. I will be getting back to you very soon!

If you like turkey burgers, you may want to check out the recipe I just posted on Sugar & Spice.

My Pumpkins :) - Show me yours!

So, I've shared with you Cohen's pumpkin for this year here. I also showed my pumpkins from last year here. I'm a little late in posting the rest of my pumpkins for this year. I figure better late than never. Plus, I'd love to see yours!

This year's inspiration comes from my Elton Warhol. I didn't have it last year so, I thought this year I could tie some pumpkins in with it!

 My fireplace :) I think those lamp shades might be a hair big, but I loved the lamps. I may look for inexpensive, smaller shades one day.

I have confessed many times that I am NOT good with crafty stuff. Sure, I can do it, but my free hand at painting, or anything for that matter, is pretty awful. So looking above, you can't tell how the stripes and dots don't look perfect. When you get close up, sure you can. Hopefully no one walks up to the fireplace to inspect, haha. 

I would have made my 'M' bigger, but I was already low on stones.

 

our sweet friend, Effie, painted the razorback pumpkin above. Love it!

I think my two favs, besides the razorback, might be the silver with hot pink dots and the black with the rhinestones. Clearly, you all probably realize I love me some polka dots! The rhinestones, my mom told/reminded me about. 

Actually, above all, this is my favorite..

I used spray paint, acrylic paint & paint pens. Some of the pumpkins are real, but most are fake. I figure the fake ones I can save for next year. That does mean another 30 gallon storage container. Sorry, honey. Brent loves getting those down from the attic. If I spray painted the pumpkin, I covered the stem with foil. I did learn that glossy acrylic paint, looks better on these than non-glossy. Also, I did by a spray to spray on top of them all, but I've not done that yet. I think that's probably more important if they were going to be sitting outside.

Now, I'd love to see your pumpkins if you have posted about them! I'm adding a Mr. Linky. I've never done this before so hopefully I did it right :) Maybe I'll put my last years pumpkin post in to test it out.

iPhone 4 & apps + girls lunch

This past weekend my brother came in town. He was needing a new phone so he asked if he could buy mine. I went by AT&T to see if I was due for an upgrade. Sure enough, they said yes. So, the I got the iPhone4 for $100 after my brother split the cost with me. Now he has a perfectly good working phone and I have a new phone :)

I'm loving it. I will tell you the biggest difference is the camera. I also think the phone, in general, is faster. We all know I love using the camera. My old phone didn't have the video option. I'm excited to have a flash as well. The only picture of Me, Brent & Cohen, where Brent and I are looking at the camera, was taken with my old iPhone. Since, the old phone didn't have give the option to shoot or save the images in high quality, the picture prints a bit blurry. I still framed it. I've tried everything I can, but you can't add pixels that weren't there to begin with. I'm glad to know I won't have any issues like that with the 4.

The guy at the store did convince me to get the OtterBox case. I was pretty against it originally. I thought it was a bit bulky. However, when he told me if something happened to the phone, it would cost $600 to replace, I immediately changed my mind...

Yes, it's a bit bigger. I don't mind though. 

I've never had many apps. I always hear people talk about them or see an ad, then I usually forget to get it. On my old phone, I had a few photography ones and some randoms. I know iGriza is a pro when it comes to app so I asked her about a few over the weekend. My new favorites I downloaded Saturday are the TV Forecast & Bill Tracker. I think she or someone else had also tweeted a while back letting me know about Prayer Journal. I've enjoyed having it.

Yes, a pic of our sweet little guy is my wallpaper. The man who sold me my phone and switched my contacts told me my baby sure was cute. I replied, "aw, I know. Thank you.".... :)

 I'm loving putting things in folders. I'm going to look for more recipe apps. Right now, I have All Recipes & Whole Foods Recipes.

I like the photo apps a lot. I've had ShakeIt, Hipstamatic, PictureShow & Polarize for a little while now. The others I've not had too long.

Tuesday, I met some sweet friends for lunch. A few of them wanted to know about ShakeIt, so I showed them....

Katie & Emily

Jessica, Lindsey & myself

Jess' girls, Penny & Lucy

Man, what did we do before iPhones?! It's a phone, computer, camera, etc in our hands.

If you have any apps you think I should try, please let me know!!! I love trying new ones!

Hope you are having a good week. Thanks for voting for our nieces & nephew for the Gap casting call.

Our nieces & nephew- Gap casting call!

You may have heard about the Gap Casting Call. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law both got word and decided to enter our nieces and nephew. I'm not sure about you, but Brent and I definitely think they should win :) How fun would it be if they were a face of Gap?

I will show you the pictures my MIL took, and then below them, I will post links for you to vote on pictures. You can vote once per day :)

{I believe all the clothing they have on is from the Gap. Actually, most.. I think Taylor's skirt is from Target.}

Each name below is a link that will take you to their picture. For some reason the pictures appear a bit blurry, which I've not figured out. They are still super cute though. Please fee free to vote :) Also, the site was running a little slow today. So, if it doesn't connect you right away, maybe try again..or again later. Thank you :)

Tatum

Beaux

Taylor

Beaux & Tatum

all 3

I can't wait to have such pretty pics of my kiddos one day :)

I posted a recipe for yummy hummus tonight - here.