2013 Goals

I know I'm a little behind but its been a little busy around here so I haven't had time to sit down and write this post out but its been in my head for like a week! So I don't do the new years resolutions and for the past several years I haven't done anything, just lived life the same as I had the year before but this year I decided that I needed to set some goals for myself in the new year. Now that I stay at home with Peyton I feel like in order for me to feel accomplished I need to have some goals for myself. They are all small things that have very deep seeded meanings behind them not just your run of the mill I want to lose weight this year! I wanted my goals to truly have purpose and meaning for me so that they will be that much easier to accomplish and I can say very proudly that so far I have kept each one of the my goals! But I thought it would be nice to write my goals on here and every so often I'll give an update of how those goals are going for me that way I have a few extra people holding me accountable! So here goes!
1) Read my Bible daily - this is something that I have always struggled with but it has always been something that I know I should be doing so this year because I not only want to do it for myself but I want to be able to set the example for my children in the future I'm determined to make this habit stick and so far it has been amazing! God has opened up that bible exactly where I needed it to be everyday!
2)Tithe the way god wants us to - this has been on my heart for months and every week at church I feel like the pastor is talking straight to me because this is something I've struggled with forever but I decided to pray about it the entire month of December so that I would have peace about it when we started doing it in the new year and so far so good!
3) Run 1 full mile without having to walk - I am NOT a runner and never have been but I'm determined that I'm going to start a little at a time!
4) Exercise at least twice a week - I want to lose weight as much as the next woman but for me its so much more than that I want to be healthy for myself and for my children and that is really what its all about. So far this has been a lot of fun I've found some kickboxing videos I really enjoy and a few fun do with your baby exercises that have been really good! And made me very sore!
5) Be more adventurous - I am a worrier and I am a play it safe kind of person but my husband is not and I know there are things he would love for us to do together if I would just be a little more adventurous so this year it is my goal to let go of some of the fears and be more adventurous. Plus I dont want to teach my children to fear everything so this is my goal.
6) Send more birthday cards - not just birthday cards but just cards in general. I am always thinking of my friends and family especially on their special days but I've never been good at remembering that little card that I know personally can make all the difference and brighten someones day so I want to start that habit.
7) Read 5 new books- lets be honest we watched entirely too much tv in my house so I hope by setting a goal to read more the tv will turn off a little more plus I want to expand my horizons on the types of books I read! Gotta keep the brain working!
8) Read with Peyton each day - I want her to have the love of reading and learning and I know that it can start now so we start everyday by reading a story from her bible stories for kids book and she loves looking at the pictures and listening to mommy read! Not only will this teach her a love for reading but it is also starting the habit of starting the day with god and that is what I want for her more than anything!
9) Pray Daily - I've always been a prayer randomly when something happens but I want to pray continuously and with purpose. i want to have a relationship with god that i can pray with him for anything and everything and nothing at all so I've added a prayer to the end of my bible reading everyday!
10) Be a better wife - this is just a goal to better myself and my marriage. i think we all have things to work on but you have to admit before you get change it so this is my way of starting the change!!

Well there you have it my goals and their purpose for 2013! Wish me luck!!

Our New Years eve Adventure

Ok so I mentioned in my previous post that we had a bit of an adventure on new years eve while were trying to drive home from Nebraska. The trip started out nice a sunny and calm and no worries in the world. Peyton was behaving Blaine was driving and I was reading in the backseat... all was right in this little road trip world of ours. We made a stop in York to eat lunch, and feed Peyton and then it was back on the road. Well once we get back on the road it seems the further south we go the darker the sky gets until eventually we hit snow. Ok not so bad until we continue going and the snow just gets heavier and heavier to the point that visibility is not super great at this point and the road are starting to get covered. So by the time we make it to Concordia Kansas which is about 50 miles north of Salina my nerves are completely shot and I tell Blaine I don't think its safe to go any farther. He tries to argue at first but after seeing how upset I was about it says ok we'll stop. So I see a sign that there is a holiday inn express just a mile into the town and we say great we'll stop there and get a room. At this point I've called people to check the radar for me and by the looks of the radar we were going to getting out of the storm anytime soon and it was supposed to continue on into the evening and night (it was about 3 in the afternoon at this point). So we go up the road to the Holiday Inn.... and of course this hotel sits on probably the biggest hill in this entire town and we can't get up the drive to the parking lot. Blaine tries both entrances and somehow doesn't get us stuck (I was terrified) so by this point I'm in the back seat in tears because I'm so upset and scared and I just want me and my little baby off of the roads and out of the cold. We had seen a super 8 motel just a few blocks back so Blaine says we'll just go there and thats what we did. They had a room, gave us a discount cause Blaine works for the federal government and so we bundle up and get out of the car and into the hotel. Blaine brings in the few things that we need for the night without unpacking the entire car in the snow and we just get comfy. Peyton naps a bit we watch some tv and play some angry birds just trying to make the best out of a not so great situation. Blaine treks next door in the snow to Mcdonalds later in the evening to get us some dinner (love my hubby) and we watch tv till we can't keep our eyes open anymore and call it a night. It def wasn't a super great New Years eve in fact I'm pretty sure we were asleep by 10 but around like 1230 Peyton made a few little noises that made us both stir a bit look at the clock realize it was after midnight we both said "happy new year" in our most unenthuased sleepy voice and went right back to sleep LOL! Aren't we so much fun!! Then in the morning we got up, had some breakfast, loaded the car back up and hit the road. The roads were still pretty gross when we first got started but by the time we made it to Salina they cleared up pretty well and we managed to make it home without anymore incidents! It was not the road trip home that we had planned by any means but thankfully I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who keeps calm in bad situations and we were able to make the best of it. All that matter to me was that we were together and that we were safe but man I can tell you the words "Home Sweet Home" never rang so trip after that trip!!!

Nebraska Christmas

We are home from our vacation and after two days of travel I have never been happier to be home. But thats a story all its own so I'll save that for my new years blog post! Anyways, we really enjoyed our time in Nebraska this christmas and we were all very blessed as usual! We drove up the day after christmas and as we drove we watched the temperature drop and the snow started getting deeper and deeper! LOL! But it was a beautiful sight and the roads were good so I didn't mind too much... although it was def. COLD! We spent a lot of time just relaxing and hanging out with family which lets be honest is my ideal vacation! We were able to celebrate our nieces birthday on Thursday along with Blaine's dad's and then we just enjoyed a lazy relaxing day Friday and did a little shopping as well. It was relaxed unplanned and wonderful! Then saturday was family day. We started the day by taking family pictures and let me tell you that was quite a task LOL! Considering our family pictures included 14 people and 6 of those people are 4 and under! So we planned it all out so that the children were napped and fed and happy. Well that would have been wonderful if the portrait studio hadn't been AN HOUR BEHIND! So needless to say our plan was out the window and the kids were OVER it by the time it was our turn to take pictures! But we did end up with a decent picture of the whole family and a pretty cute one of just the 6 kids... I dont really know how we managed it but we did LOL! After the lovely experience we all went back the Blaine's parents and enjoyed a day playing and laughing and eating... the way the holidays should be. We had a wonderful lunch of all the typical holiday food and then we opened all our gifts and we were so very blessed and Peyton is such a lucky little girl!! It was so fun and such a wonderful time! Then we just spent the evening enjoying eachothers company! Sunday we just had another lazy relaxing day and enjoyed every moment of it! Then we drove home... which is a story all its own! For now I'll leave with you some pictures from our trip!

There was lots of snow when we got there and it snowed a bit while we were there as well.

Peyton just hanging at having some tummy time!

Blaine and I having fun at Tempey's Bday party

Another snowy picture

Blaine was super excited LOL!

My sweet baby girl ready for a day of shopping!

Cousin Love!

Riding in the shopping cart for the first time!

Aly and I ready for family pictures and christmas!

Papa playing with his boys!

Peyton and Me hanging out! Enjoying our vacation!

Peyton's 1st Oklahoma Christmas!

Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Its full of family, friends, laughter, good food, and of course our lord and savior! It just really doesn't get any better... or so I thought. I have always LOVED giving gifts... recieving is nice too but I am a gift giver. I spend weeks trying to pick the perfect gift for each person on my list because I want everyone to be super excited and happy! But this year it was a little different. I still wanted everyone to be happy and get good gifts but really all I cared about was having wonderful gifts for my little baby! And yes I know she won't remember it but I will and I have pictures to look back at for a lifetime! I am so excited for the years to come because I know Christmas morning will just get more and more fun! This year she may not have really been able to open gifts or really even know what was going on but she was sooo cute and attentive and happy! She would pull the paper if you put it in her hand just a little, she looked at every gift as you pulled it out and the ones that lit up and made noise she really watched. 

She was just so cute and happy all day and for that I am so very thankful... it was a day full of few naps so the fact that she was in a good mood is a blessing!

We started our day at the Jones' opening gifts with them which is always super fun! Their girls are older so they get super excited! Zoe Squealed so loud when she opened the gift from us... it was so cute! We love spending our holidays with our extra family :) I've been doing it for so long its really hard to remember a time when my christmas mornings didn't start out over there. Then we made our way to Grandma Hibbs house and spent the day surrounded by our family. Its funny to see how the famiy has come full circle. I'm the youngest out of the grandchildren so I dont remember seeing a bunch of kids all running around at grandmas but now that there are three great grandchildren that are that super fun age its funny to think how we went so long without little kids running around and now here we are again! Someone comments everytime were all together thats its so nice to see the little kids in the house again. One downside to this fact is that we are running out of living room space LOL!

 There was barely a walking path left once all the presents were under the tree it was crazy! But super fun! In our family if you under the age of 16 then you get gifts from the family but once you turn 16 then you go into the white elephant. This helps with the costs of christmas because it keeps people from feeling obligated to get each person a gift. Plus its a hilarious game when you're playing with my family! Although I will say it was a pretty calm year this year. So the kids open first and then go on their way and the adults play our white elephant game. Peyton was napping during the kids present opening so we did it all for her and then she of course woke up right as it was time for the white elephant and wanted to eat so Blaine had to help me out a bit LOL! It really was my idea of the perfect christmas! After it was all said and done we got all packed up to come home and now we are preparing for the trip to Nebraska to have yet another Christmas celebration with Blaine's side of the family. Just thinking about all the family we get to spend time with over the holidays makes me realize yet again how blessed we are and how blessed Peyton is to have all these people surrounding her, encouraging her, loving her, supporting her, and praying her from the very beginning of her life! I really couldn't ask for anything else! So I hope all of you had a wonderful and Merry Christmas full of family and friends and laughter like we did because it truly is the best gift of the season and its all because of what Jesus did for us that its even possible and that is the greatest blessing of all!!

3 months

I'm pretty sure I say this every month but it is so true... I can't believe she's already 3 months old! The time is flying by and I just want to slow it down so I can hold on to every precious second of her life!! So much has changed in the last 3 months... not neccessarily material things, or lifestyle changes but more like personality changes I guess. Everything is just different now that we have her and I wouldn't trade the world for it. She is growing so fast and changing a little everyday!! She roll from her belly to her back now which officially she means she rarely gets tummy time because if she doesn't want to be on her belly she just rolls over LOL! She is holding her head up SOO good... its still a little wobbly after she gets tired but she is getting really good at it! She is smiling up a storm, she really is just a happy little baby and she lets you know that with all her wonderful grins! She even laughed for us the other day! It was just a little laugh and we haven't been able to repeat it since but I was so excited and it was the cutest noise I have ever heard in my entire life! She really does amaze us everyday and can brighten any day with one little smile! People always tell you that you can't understand it until you have children of your own... and it turns out they were right... I've never loved anything or anyone as much as I love that little girl! I just can't get enough! So in honor of her being 3 months old and super cute here are some pictures that we took of her! 

How can you not just smile at that face!!! She is so funny! 

BIG Yawn!! 

She loves looking at the Christmas lights!

Trying to be artsy! I love the look of the Christmas light glow!

She loves her Bumbo!! So sweet!

Sweet baby girl!! 

I told you... cutest thing ever!! I just can't get enough! I can't believe that its already been 3 months since she came into my world! I look forward to the next 3 months even though I wish she could stay my little baby forever! 

Peytons 1st Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! I am one of those people who refuses to think about anything Christmas before Thanksgiving! I think it is a very important time of year and it makes me sad that it always gets overlooked. I often say that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it has all the things I love... Great food, wonderful time with family, many blessing to be thankful for and unlike Christmas I dont have to spend a bunch of money on presents LOL! (Don't get me wrong I love Christmas and I love giving gifts) Anyways I am a big fan of Thanksgiving and I was very excited to have Ms. Peyton enjoy her first Thanksgiving this year. So we took our annual trip to Nebraska to spend the holiday with Blaine's side of the family and this year we were able to spend a week up there which was nice since Peyton hasn't gotten to spend a lot of time with his side of the family since she was born. So we drove up Friday and enjoy the week getting things ready for Thanksgiving, watching football, visiting with friends, and just enjoying sometime together as a family! We spent Thanksgiving at a church in Gretna with all of Blaine's family as well as his sister in law's family and had a wonderful time fellowshipping together and watching all the kids play together! It's so much fun to have so many little ones running around now! Then Friday we did our annual Black Friday shopping and it was a lot of fun as usual but man I was exhausted and so glad to drive home and sleep in my own bed after a week away! Once we got home a baked some Pumpkin pies to take to my family's thanksgiving which we had on Saturday! It was a wonderful day cooking and spending time with the family I love all the opportunities we have to get together. The highlight of my day though was the fact that my Dad finally held Peyton. He is not a holding babies kind of guy and likes to wait till they get a little bigger and can hold their heads up so when he came right in and took her I was so excited and grabbed my camera right away!! It was a wonderful moment! To sum it all up we had a wonderful thanksgiving filled with family, friends, love, and food and it really just doesn't get any better than that! So I'll leave you with a few pictures from our wonderful holiday! 

Papa Dee holding his girl for the first time! 

The older kiddos taking a picture while Peyton took a nap. We figured she'd probably get crawled on anyway!

The Finley clan... can you imagine just going out to dinner together! It is quite entertaining! 

Peyton and Tempey in their matching 1st Thanksgiving outfits with little Ethan peeking in the picture!

Month 2

Wow tomorrow my little girl will be 2 months old and I can not believe it has been 2 months already! So many things have changed in the last 2 months it just completely blows my mind whenever I think about it. She has grown so much and changed so much and learned so much just in the last 2 months! I feel like I'm going to miss something if I blink somedays! She smiles so big now and its my absolute favorite!! Just watching her grin brighten my days no matter what the rest of the day has been like and I love it! She is holding her head up so well now... its still a little wobbly and she gets tired after a little while but she is getting a little stronger everyday. We're still working on her being content just by herself and not being held all the time but its a work in progress... somedays she does great and others there is just no use LOL! We are also trying to work on the transition into her crib but again that is a work in progress. She is a stubborn little girl just like her momma but we'll get there. We started going back to church a couple weeks ago once she was old enough to go into the nursery... and man that was the longest hour of my life when we first took her. Its better now but that first time was very very hard for me. I finally understood what it was like to be the momma during drop off instead of being the teacher and let me tell ya... it's easier being the teacher LOL! But she has done wonderful in the nursery and all the volunteers in there are wonderful and just love her to pieces! And of course they do... why wouldn't they she is just amazing! I am absolutely amazed by this little person and the fact that she came from me. I like to think that she has the best of me and the best of her daddy and its just so amazing to think about the life that she has ahead of her. I promise her everyday that I'm going to give her the best life I possibly can and everyday I try to think of just how I'm going to do that. We are all super excited for all the holidays coming up and all the family time we're going to have. I am a holiday lover every year but this year it all just means so much more because these are her very first holidays and I just couldn't be more excited! We are going to be dedicating her at church in Decemeber and I'm excited to say that she is going to be dedicated right along side our best friends little girl who is just three months older. These little girls are going to give us a run for our money when they get older I'm sure but I'm so excited for her to have a little buddy to run around with right from the beginning! And I'm excited to stand in front of our church and our friends and family and dedicate our lives to raising her up the way God would want us to. Its just one of the many ways I know that I can fulfill my promise to giving her the best life possible. Well now that I've rambled on about a little bit of everything I will leave you  with some more adorable pictures of what we've been up to this month!

Just playing on my mat while daddy takes my picture!

She loves sitting in her bumbo chair

Our little owl all dressed up for Halloween

Our family photo!

Out enjoying so halloween festivities in Edmond!