Steve & Anna

NO WAY!

Tue, 9 Feb 2010 22:00:36 -0700

Check this out from Failblog:

http://failblog.org/2010/02/09/running-fail/

My brother was there when that picture was taken!!!! That’s the track team from his high school!!!! How cool is that????

Just wanted to share this brush with 15-second-fame with you...

More pictures to come from Seattle trip...as soon as I find the time...

Hair, Music and the 1970’s

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:49:16 -0700

So on Saturday I got my hair cut! I’m REALLY liking the bangs, but at first I wasn’t so sure. When the lady who cut it first styled it, I thought it looked a little too “late 70’s-early 80’s-ish” ...

It reminded me too much of Dorthy Hamill:

Yikes.

I think I’m a more flippy-outtie hair kind of gal:

But ever since then I’ve got up in the morning with 70’s hippy Jesus songs stuck in my head (which, I suppose, really isn’t that odd of an occurrence) :

“One day a bright new wave will break upon the shore
and there will be no sickness, no more sorrow, no more war
and little children never will grow hungry anymore
and there will be a bright, new morning over there
there will be a bright new world for us to share”

I sang this one to Steve on the way to church yesterday:

Anna: “Oh Steven, do you love Jesus?”
(Anna pretending to be Steve because he wouldn’t sing it):
“Why yes I love Jesus”
Anna: “Are you sure you love Jesus?”
Anna-as-Steve: “I’m sure I love Jesus”
Anna: “And why do you love Jesus”
Anna-as-Steve: “Here’s why I love Jesus”
Both: “Because he first loved me!”

But enough about hair and music and the 70’s, because...

I’M GOING TO VISIT MY SISTER IN 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last week Jonathan called me up and bought me a plane ticket to Seattle for Sarah’s birthday! It is seriously WAY PAST time. I haven’t seen her since MAY, people.
NO BUENO.

And really, besides hopping on a plane as soon as humanly possible, how else am I supposed to respond to this?

They were in the Salt Lake airport for a quick layover last week. So quick, in fact, that I couldn’t even see them. So Sarah texted me this pic. And I pretty much BAWLED the entire rest of the day. End of story.

So, at 5:00pm on Wednesday evening, I will be hopping on a plane bound for Seattle (well, that plane will be bound for Phoenix...then I’ll get on another plane 2 1/2 hours later which is bound for Seattle...I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to see my sister!!!!).

If any of you are in Salt Lake, call Steve up this weekend and keep him occupied.

So, needless to say,
I AM SO EXCITED!
That’s pretty much all I can think about...
As for anything else that’s been happening here, well...

I’ve been super-busy at work. Still. Still behind on my blogs;)

Steve has been wiring the Cafe Rio corporate offices over the last month, and while that doesn’t translate into free Cafe Rio salads for me :( it does mean extra pay! Mostly because he was working 12 to 14 hour Saturdays and Sundays. It kind of sucked, but it’s work, so...

Church has been going pretty good lately. The past two sermons have been really encouraging and challenging. It feels like God is really drawing me back to Him lately, bringing me closer. I’ve been REALLY trying to read a short devotional before bed each night, and I just got the book for a new Beth Moore bible study on Daniel. My friend Kelly is teaching it on Wednesday nights, and while I can’t go the the classes, I can at least follow along and discuss it with people on Sundays. I’m just trying to take baby steps, you know?
Except, can I just rant for a moment?
I’m really looking forward to this study, because I want to get back into studying my bible and reading it daily. So I sit down to do the study, and the whole introduction is about how she specifically designed the study to depend upon the DVD that goes with it. She says the “video sessions are absolutely critical to the journey.” Well, ok, that’s great and all, but I CANNOT commit to going to the study. So, what, too bad, sorry me? Fortunately, I am able to borrow the DVDs during the week because my mother-in-law loves me (and I’m there so freaking often that I can borrow it one day and bring it back the next...), but there are at least 3 other women that I know of that need to view the DVDs also. So, I’m just a bit miffed that Beth Moore designed the study that way. Really, Beth, why are you making my life more complicated???
End Rant.

I am also doing pretty well at working out on a regular basis! Yay! I’ve got the Rec Center down the street from my work where I go on lunch breaks, but if I have to miss a day, I’ve got my trusty Wii Fit. I’ve unlocked several new yoga poses, I’ll have you know ;) AND my freaking awesome (I taught her 6-year-old that phrase) friend Tammy has been coming over to my house on Thursday mornings at 6:15AM to work out together! She is incredibly motivated and just generally kick-ass cool. Poor Todd doesn’t get much sleep those mornings since he’s in the next room...

Speaking of my kick-ass cool friend Tammy, NEXT weekend we are having a girl’s getaway! She will be there to console me and give me a pick-me-up when I get back from Seattle and am all depressed and missing my sister.

For the first time, though, I really am regretting that I will miss church for 2 Sundays in a row. We are headed in such a great direction with the music team and with Community Night, and we still have so much work to do. It is a shame to have to put my contributing to that on hold. Not enough of a shame that I would miss out on going to Seattle (!) but it’s exciting to me that I feel excited about it and that I have something I feel strongly about and want to be involved with waiting for me when I get home.

Even the sermon on Sunday talked about how the Church is a body, THE body of Christ, and how we must connect not only with God, but with each other, in order to really BE the Church. I’m excited to be a part of this body and to be giving of my time and energy to these people. And I think that’s how it’s supposed to be.
I’ve been thinking about it a lot, because in the last year, we’ve had a few people leave our church, saying some really awful, untrue things about the pastors - who are Steve’s parents, which makes it really difficult, because I love and respect and trust them so much, not only as my pastors but as my parents. The worst part is that the last family to leave was a really good friend of Steve’s. There’s a lot more that I want to say to explain it, but it doesn’t need to be put out here on the internet. What it comes down to is that it hurts. It hurts us personally, it hurts our pastors, it hurts the church - MY church but also THE Church. Every time I think about these people it hurts.

There’s a song by Flyleaf called “Beautiful Bride” that I’ve been listening to a lot lately because of this. I’ve posted the words below it because it is such a powerful, true, important song that I think THE Church really needs to hear and then put into practice.

Beautiful Bride - Flyleaf

Unified, diversity
Functioning as one body
Every part encouraged by the other
No one independent of another
You're irreplaceable
Indespensable,
You're incredible
You're incredible

Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

Strengthen your arms now
Train your fingers for battle
Urgency's here now
Train your fingers for battle
Fighting this violence
With your feet wrapped in peace
Sad tears and silence
Now screams of joy
Victory

Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

We're not gonna fall and forget
How far you went to pick us up
If one parts hurt the whole body’s sick
If one part mourns we all mourn with Him
Rejoice, we'll sing with you
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah

Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

Last Post of 2009

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:37:52 -0700

2009 is almost over!
Seriously, I don’t know where my life has gone.

Christmas was wonderful. We spent a ton of time with Steve’s family, just relaxing and eating and snuggling. I say snuggling because this year we all got:

SNUGGIES!!!!
I have been making fun of these things ever since they first came out and I saw the WTF Blanket Video.

Every year Steve’s parents get all us “kids” pajamas. Last year they started getting really goofy/funny/weird pj’s, and this year, instead of pj’s it was Snuggies. Which is WAY COOL...except, we planned to stay the weekend at their house and I didn’t pack any pajamas...because I always get a pair on Christmas Eve!
Little tip: You cannot walk around comfortably in just a Snuggie...they’re like hospital gowns: open in the back! Fortunately I had some leggings and an extra T-shirt of Steve’s...which coordinated perfectly with:

My AWESOME slippers! My sister Sarah MADE these. When I first opened them, they were in this pretty box with French words on it (not “fragile” though), so I really thought she BOUGHT them. They are AMAZING, aren’t they?

So, Christmas Eve I got to leave work early and we headed over to Steve’s parent’s house for an early dinner. Then Christmas Eve service (which went fine. Our “Emmanuel” song went great, and the service was ok. Not my favorite, though.) and back to the parent’s house where we opened our Snuggies and then went to bed.

Christmas morning we opened gifts.

I gave Steve a FREAKING RAD T-shirt from ThinkGeek.com.

He gave me the SWITCHFOOT Holiday Pack!!! AHEM, he didn’t order it until Monday before Christmas, so it wasn’t here yet. It did finally come this week, but I already knew what it was because I came home right as he was ordering it and mistakenly GLANCED at his computer screen (I didn’t know that’s what he was doing!!!) and saw the “Hello Hurricane” album artwork,

which I obviously recognized, and figured out he must be buying my gift. I didn’t know for sure exactly what he got me, but I had a good idea.
I felt bad until he confessed that he saw the order confirmation email from thinkgeek.com and knew where his present was coming from. Grrrrr.
But, when it did come, he displayed it for me to see when I walked in the door:

The DVD is live concert footage, and the shirt!!!! It wasn’t the one that originally came with the package, but he picked this one out specifically. The best part is the lyric at the bottom: “I want to know that my heart’s still beating..” which is from one of my ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE parts of one of my ABSOLUTELY FAVORITE Switchfoot songs:
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating,
I'm bleeding
I want to wake up kicking and screaming
I want to live like I know what I'm leaving
I want to know that my heart's still beating
It's beating... it's beating...
I'm bleeding

So, he picked a pretty great gift :)

The day after Christmas, I went to “High Tea” at the Grand America Hotel for a party with my sister-in-laws. It was FABULOUS, but I felt like I should have worn something fancier because it was so elegant and...”high tea”-ish. I mean, they had a harp player to provide ambiance!

Then that night we all went to the Melting Pot as Brenda & Anthony’s Christmas gift to the whole family. It was DELICIOUS and a GREAT way to just be together for a long time enjoying the food.

We had planned to go home Sunday, but when we got up that morning to drive to church, we had a flat tire! LAME.
So we ended up staying another night, went to breakfast together, I got to work late and Steve handled the tire issue. It was nice, but sort of like a rude awakening that Christmas was over :(

So, it was a wonderful holiday weekend!

The week before Christmas I got crafty:
I had picked bunches of lavender, sage and mint from my garden and dried them.
Sage:

Lavender:

I made a TOTAL and COMPLETE MESS but I also made these:

Smelly lavender & sage satchels to freshen drawers and mint & green tea bags!

I just combined the mint with some mild green tea, but I made them as gifts for my Barnes & Noble buddies and haven’t seen them yet...all this is to say that I don’t know if they’re any good :) But they sure smell good!

And....TA-DA!

I finished Maggie’s pillow in time for Christmas!!!
Here is close-up detail of the buttons & fabric on the back:

Did I mention that I actually finished it sooner but that it was horribly UGLY and CRAPPY and so I took it all apart and started over? Yeah. This turned out much better.

The first week of December we had our 2nd Annual Turkey Dinner! Steve made a turkey and then 17 of our friends brought over sides to share! I didn’t think we could fit that many people in our house, but we did it! What I’m really trying to do here is find a way to introduce these priceless little videos of my friend’s kids:

I am going to use this to tease Eleasar when he is a teenager.

This one I am going to sell to TMZ one day for butt-loads of money when Malaki is a famous actor/teen heart-throb (is that still a term? Did I just age myself by saying that?)
See, my friend Tammy makes some darn cute kids.

Okay, she had some help from Aaron...

So, the holidays have been a hit, and now we are off to one last celebration!
I hope you have a safe new year’s eve and that 2010 is a year of blessing & prosperity for you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:15:11 -0700

Well, here we are on Christmas Eve.

I’m listening to:

trying to learn the harmony part on it because I’m singing it TONIGHT in the Christmas Eve service with my friend Tammy.

I’m EXHAUSTED because I stayed up until 4AM Tuesday night finishing my mom’s Christmas gift, then I was up until 2AM last night finishing Steve’s sister Jessica’s Christmas gift! I really love being creative and making gifts for people, but...sometimes I don’t manage my time well :)

I read THIS BLOG POST yesterday, and it freaking made my day. It just reminded me that sometimes I try too hard and worry too much about gift-giving. It’s a part of the season, but it’s not really WHAT it’s about. It’s a reflection of what God did for us - gave US the gift of His son, of Himself - but unfortunately it often ends up being the cause of stress.
However, all our presents are finished and ready to be wrapped! We were very creative and crafty this year. But I can’t tell you any more than that...yet.

I took pictures of our Christmas decorations when I put them up a few weeks ago:

Our sweet little tree...
Todd actually set it up this year! I had to run errands a few weeks ago, and he let me use his car and when I came home, the tree was all put together! He rocks.

Here is my nativity set.
There’s a few more decorations, but these are the only pictures I took.

I haven’t blogged in over a month because I have been SO BUSY. Like, even more than normal.

The weekend after Thanksgiving my boss had a heart attack. She’s doing just fine now, but for the last month I’ve really tried to jump in and do whatever of her stuff that I can. I still am, because she’s SUPPOSED to be only working half days...which she isn’t...but she SHOULD be. It’s fun to figure out new things and try to do everything that I can, but it has kept me incredibly busy! I am SO BEHIND on my internet-surfage!!!! So if I haven’t commented on any of your blogs lately, that is why.

Hmmm...what else have we been up to? Just Christmas, Christmas, Christmas.

Last Sunday I sang “Mary Did You Know” as a special music. At first I was a little reluctant to sing it because it feels like it is overdone sometimes. But as I sat and listened to the words, I was blown away.

“The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again
The lame will leap
the dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb”

That is our hope! That is what God is able and willing to do. Even just within our little church, God has time and time again brought HEALING to people. And ultimately, He will heal us and restore us to Himself completely.

I love the reverence and awe of this season. Even in all of our busyness, there’s songs constantly playing, merchandise constantly being sold, etc., that remind us of Jesus. We’re being constantly reminded about the fact the GOD HIMSELF came down to us to save us. Like the song I’m singing to night, “Emmanuel, God With Us” - GOD IS WITH US.
Maybe I’m a bit slow, but I had this crazy epiphany last week. I was thinking about how God sent His son to us in the most seemingly-shameful situation. I mean, even today there are stigmas associated with getting pregnant before marriage. But back then-WOW. WOW. It wasn’t just shameful, it was enough for her to be stigmatized forever. And even Joseph (who had in mind to divorce her quietly), even though he didn’t cast her out, knew it was shameful and wasn’t going to stay with her. It feels like God was trying to make a point with it all. Later in his life, Jesus spent so much of his time with the “shameful” people - the prostitutes, tax collectors, poor, unreligious. He didn’t look at those things. He looked straight into their hearts to their needs and met them. And coming to earth as a little baby seems so opposite what we think He would/should do, and then coming as a baby to an unwed mother? What? It just blows my mind.

I hope you have a WONDERFUL Christmas and that you feel the love of God surround you and your family.

PARTY!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:19:39 -0700

One week ago today, I had the most fantastic birthday parties EVER. I think it could only compare with my 16th surprise party my sister & friends threw for me and my (8th? 9th?) 101 Dalmations party (which, weird, now that I think about it, was also black & white...).

My beautiful and amazing friends
Stephanie

Lisa

Leia & Krista

started scheming after Halloween and came up with a fabulous black & white party!

Since the party was on Friday the 13th, we played up a “good luck” theme, with black, white, red & silver decorations (which, incidentally are my old school colors...) in the shapes of diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs, with black & silver stars:

Everything was black & white (with a hint of red):
Everyone wore black & white.
The “house drinks” were black & white russians.
The food was even black & white!
Oreos
Strawberries to dip in (white) cream or (black) dark chocolate
black & white M&Ms
Black olive tapenade with goat cheese bruchetta (made by Leia’s amazing husband, Eric! - who also made rum balls)
(aren’t they so cute in this picture?)
Deviled eggs (with the insides dyed black!)
Black bean salsa (and red salsa) with chips
Black olives with cheese & crackers
Dark chocolate cupcakes (made by the marvelous Stephanie!)

Every little detail was on color, even the little silver & red star confetti spread on every table!

And to make the night even better: we sang karaoke! Which is like, my favorite thing ever!!!!

Lisa & Mandi (my old high school CHOIR nerd buddies!)

Todd...hopefully not the face he makes when leading music at church... ;)

PS: Todd’s gift to me was that he would be shorter than me for the entire night:

Tammy & I bustin’ some Sir-Mix-A-Lot (sing it with me now: “I like big butts and I cannot lie...”)

Tammy & Aaron ROCK at karaoke. Seriously.

But the HIGHLIGHT of the night, the moment when ALL eyes and ears were fixed on the “dance” floor, when not one eye was dry...
from laughing so hard we cried...
was when Steve sang “I’m Too Sexy”:

He shook his little tush on the catwalk

It was a beautiful moment.
(Check it out, he still has his mohawk, too!)
I don’t think people realize that Steve really isn’t a shy person. He can be quiet around people he doesn’t know, and he isn’t one of those hog-the-spotlight kind of people (I wouldn’t know what those people are like...), but he can be just the right amount of extroverted. And that night he rocked it. People are still talking about how funny it was.

I was SO BLESSED by my friends that night. I can’t even express how much love & happiness (and other gooey feelings) fill my heart. They threw a fantastic party and went the extra mile with all the amazing details. There was literally not one un-fun moment the entire night.
And the gifts I was given were perfect and thoughtful and generous. I had a WONDERFUL birthday because I have WONDERFUL people in my life :)