182. Summer vacations.

183. Meeting Bryan's great grandfather for the first time. He is a wonderful man. He has been through so much in his 91 years on this earth!

184. Summer.

177. Warm summer days

178. Birds singing so loud, that I can hear them even though the windows aren't open

179. My crawling baby. She is so much fun to watch. She is exploring the house. I have to be so careful to not have little bits of things on the floor!

180. My ALMOST clean house

181. A new friend

There is a really great giveaway going on at Homestead Emporium.

Here is the link!

http://homesteademporium.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/its-time-for-a-contest-win-a-20-00-gift-certificate/#comment-648

174. VIP tickets to see the Newsboys. God is so, so, so good. They have been my favorite band forever. Like, I remember playing Barbies, and listening to their early albums! I just won 2 VIP concert tickets for Saturday night. I have been begging Bryan to take me, but we just don't have the extra money. I've been trying to scrape up dollars here and there, but I don't see how I would have gotten enough to go, and then I would have had to go alone. Bryan and I will get : Early Access to venue, VIP seating, Souvenir VIP Pass, Pre Show Meet & Greet, & Autographed CD. AMAZING!

175. Free education. My boss bought me tickets to a great updo class this morning, and I walked away with a lot of knowledge, and a new confidence to take on formal styles. Wedding season...here I come!

176. Lovely days. Today was gorgeous. That means a lot to me after such a cold winter!

172. Food. I have been cooking up a storm since our kitchen got done. Chicken curry... (twice! It was so good we wanted it again right away!) Taquitos... (I've made these twice too!) Veggie Pizza... Sweet and Sour Pork... Spaghetti...Peanut Butter cookies! Tomorrow is my brother's birthday, and I am making 2 big homemade pizzas for my family. I'm excited!

173. Our new bike trailer! I have been looking for one for months, getting ready for summer. I missed the few that came up on the classifieds website for our city, and I was offered one for free from family, but it has been sitting outside for 6 years, and needed some work. I decided to just bite the bullet and buy one. I scraped up all of the loose change in the house and was able to pay for about half of it with that! Yay! Olivia and I went for our first ride this afternoon, and it was great. I biked about 14 blocks. We even stopped to swing at the park. I am looking forward to a summer of biking with my babe! Hopefully I'll get into shape pretty fast! My legs were crampin'!

169. Easter. He is risen. I have been redeemed by His blood. That is the ultimate gift. The ultimate reason to give thanks.

170. Naps. I love naps. My in-laws took care of Liv for a few hours on Sunday so that Bryan and I could sleep. It was amazing.

171. Surprise packages. I can't believe how blessed we are. A local natural parenting shop sent us a little package of baby leg warmers. It totally made my day! Bryan discovered their shop last week. It's about 100 miles away, I am hoping to go there someday!

167. My chiropractors. I had another headache yesterday, and 3pm found both Olivia and I in my bed crying our eyes out! She is teething, and is borderline miserable 24/7, and I had a migraine. It was quite the day yesterday. My mom finally came and got us, and took me to the chiropractor, got me lunch, brought us home, fed baby, and got her down for a nap before tucking me into bed too.

168. My mom. :)

164. Thrifting! I found a few cookbooks, a shoe rack, and a thawing board, and I got them all for about 5 bucks! I have been looking for a nice place to keep my shoes, and this rack will fit in our closets...I just have to decide which one!

165. Beautiful days. Yesterday's weather was absolutely perfect. I can't say the same about today, but yesterday gives me hope that Spring is just around the corner.

166. Our kitchen is almost done!

156. Open windows.

157. The first day of BEAUTIFUL weather!

158. My sweet baby playing quietly in her room. She is looking at books, how cute is that ?

159. The sound of her voice as she babbles to herself.

160. A chance to quick get my house whipped into shape. It's actually really tidy, I just need to pick up a few things, make the beds, and clean the bathroom.

161. Girl time. I have plans with a friend later. I am excited.

162. His joy comes in the morning. I have been loving mornings lately...which is totally not me!

163. Livy's kisses. I woke up to her lips on mine! That is her new thing lately. Bryan always puts in her bed with me when he leaves in the morning, and we snuggle and sleep until we feel like getting up (on the days that I don't work). The past few mornings, I have been woken by juicy kisses! I LOVE THEM!

151. God's promises. In the heat of this scary health care bill, I am CLINGING to His wonderful promises. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

152. Blessings. I received a "Pentecostal handshake" in church this morning, and I was able to go put money down on a dining set that we have been eying for a year! We are getting a gorgeous table, a bench, and 5 chairs! We want to get the kitchen finished before we pick it up, so hopefully in a few weeks, I will be serving my first meal on a beautiful table! I also was able to get Olivia a little booster seat to replace the monster of a highchair that we have been using. I am thankful for it, because it was free, but I am excited to have something smaller.

153. Family time. I think I use this one in about every other post, but I love my family so much. I love Bryan's family so much, too! We have had some wonderful times this weekend.

154. God's goodness and mercy. Our missions project is finally in the final stages after much prayer! I am so excited that God is using our little fellowship to build a new house for a dear family in Central America!

155. Free diapers! I won a Grobaby diaper. I. am. so. excited to get it!

146. Progress! Our new and improved kitchen is coming along! The cabinets are now painted! Bryan is hoping to paint the walls and ceiling this week. We picked a light fixture and put it up. It is absolutely gorgeous. It matches our bathroom fixture. We also picked out a faucet for the sink, and I am so happy with it. It shouldn't be long now!

147. Good food. Mom and dad made us an amazing meal last night. It was so good. We haven't had home cooked food for several weeks. Olivia ate so much too! We gave her fresh avocados and some of our sweet potato fries.

148. My sleepy girl. We were up late last night, but I didn't think she would sleep until 11 AM! I had check on her a few times, and finally decided to just wake her up. She is so precious.

149. My giggly girl. I don't know why she is laughing right now, but she is laughing really hard! Either Barney, or the cats is tickling her funny bone!

150. Spring. I think it's coming. Really.

139. Getting my new glasses in the mail a few days ago! Both pairs are realllly cute. I have been getting tons of compliments on them. I'm so happy that they were cheap!

140. Spring fever. I am feeling it big time! I just pulled 2 garbage bags full of clothes from my closet! That is a big deal for me. I usually hang onto everything for some reason. None of my clothes are very nice, and very few of them were new when I got them, so I don't know why it's so hard for me to let go. I am striving to live a more simple life. My closet was bursting at the seams. Ridiculous. It is now about half full, and ready for a few new things! I also filled 3 grocery bags with socks that we don't need, and a few odds and ends that I found in the laundry room. It always feels so good to give stuff away, I need to start a quarterly purge schedule or something...hmmm...

141. Diaper organizational heaven! I finally found the perfect containers for Olivia's diaper stash. I found cheap canvas bins at Wal Mart in the clearance section today. There are 4 of them, and I haven't filled them yet, but I know they are going to be just perfect. We have been cloth diapering her for over 7 months, and they have been living in a huge, clumsy plastic box that didn't really fit them very well.

142. New hampers! We have had one of those 3 basket rolling ones for awhile, but it was torn, and had seen better days. I went to buy one to replace it, and they were so cheap that I bought two! My laundry sorting dreams are finally coming true! I labeled them so it will be even more fun to do laundry now!

143. Remodeling. I am SO thankful for our home. We could have bought any home (within our price range)...We looked at a lot of houses, but still decided on this one. We had lived here for a few years, so we already knew everything that we wanted to modify. It is so fun seeing everything finished, and falling into place. It also has a special place in my heart, because it was my grandparent's house, and my dad and his brothers were raised here! My grandparents had the house built for them, and when we took the old counter top off, my maiden name was written on the cabinetry. I need to take a picture of that!

144. Our creativity and ideas. This one is a spin-off of the previous one. It was getting too long! I am so thankful for Bryan's smart ideas, and my smart ideas, and our combined creativity. This house will be 100% us!

145. Entertaining. Before we started this project and had a baby, we used to have people over all of the time. We have some good memories. I can't wait until the house is done and we can really have people over! We have a huge heart for having people into our home for worship, fellowship, and food. I can almost hear/see/smell our new and improved house just bursting with people!

136. I am brave. I had a horrible headache today. It was so horrible that I found myself bent over the toilet this morning. I have had headaches cause dry heaves, but I have never had one so bad that I've thrown up before! I spent most of the day in bed, and I feel a lot better tonight. Thank you, Lord! I have a super busy day at work tomorrow, and I am so glad that I finally feel better tonight! I didn't take any medicine for it. I took a hot bath, a hot shower, and several naps. I hate medicine.

137. New shoes! I finally went and got the Puma sneakers that I have been wanting for awhile. I haven't had good sneakers since I was about 16. They feel so nice, and they are so clean. I even got pretty new socks to go with them. :) I hope they are comfy for work!

138. Money. I know a lot of the things I've been thankful for lately are material items, but I really am so thankful! We have been married for just over 5 years, and have spent the time happy, but barely living paycheck to paycheck. With his raise, and my new found passion for my job, things are so much better, and I am finally catching up on little things that I have wanted/needed for a long time!

132. My OWN checking account. Since I'm making more now, and since Bryan got a raise a few months ago, things are wayyyy better around here. He opened up a checking account for me, and every month from now on I will get a little bit of spending money. I went shopping today and got a few shirts for work, and a new diaper bag...I desperately needed a new one. Tomorrow I have to go shopping for some salon supplies. I need a new clipper and neck trimmer, and I am also hoping to find a new shears for a good price.

133. Great family and friends. This afternoon, I went to the mall with my sister in law and a friend, and we had so much fun. Then, this evening I went to a few other stores with my mom, it was so nice to get out of the house.

134. Purim. Last night, we celebrated the Jewish festival of Purim. We met at church, and had a masquerade party. Everyone dressed up, and brought fun food. We read the story of Esther and my friends performed some Jewish fiddle songs. It was a blast. Purim is the festival that commemorates when the Jews were saved from death because of Esther's bravery and dedication to her people.

135. Bath time. Olivia LOVES taking baths, and it is so much fun. I sat in there with her tonight, she was so happy.

127. Stability. It seems like every time I post, I am thankful for some of the same things. How wonderful it is to have a stable home, a stable income, a stable husband, a stable schedule...I wouldn't say my life is "predictable" by any means, but it is stable.

128. Quiet mornings. I love just being at home - laundry washing, baby playing quietly at my feet, reading about things that interest me online, drinking sparkling water...

129. The fact that I'm grown up. I get a kick out of finding old friends on Facebook, except that they are all still in the party stage. Some of them still live with their parents. Here I am, with a husband of 5 years, a sweet baby who is almost 1 year old, and we've owned a house for a year and a half. I am so thankful that I chose the path that I did.

130. My house. As chaotic as it is without a kitchen, I. AM. SO. EXCITED. to have a new kitchen! Bryan is working as fast as he can on it. Everyone commends me for being so patient through this whole renovation, but I can't see myself being anything other than patient. All he does is work his job, then he comes home and works on the house until really late. What a sacrifice! I can't be anything other than patient, knowing that he is putting everything into this to get it done for our family!

131. Internet Friends. hahah. I love all the blogs I read, I love connecting with people through the internet. I love my real life friends, but I've really grown to cherish my online relationships too.

122. Making someone's day. Today I chose to make my grandmother's day. She lives in a nursing home, and I never visit her. I hate nursing homes. I hate seeing her like this. But today, I decided that it's stupid of me to care more about myself than my dear grandmother. We spent a lot of time with her when we were kids. She read to us, took us to the zoo, made us good food, taught me a lot about baking, and she was a wonderful example to us. I randomly drove by her nursing home today and I was overcome with thankfulness for her life. She was so happy to see Olivia and I, I wanted to cry! We didn't stay long, because Olivia was getting tired, and it was almost lunch time for grandma Bertha. I felt so good driving home. I want to try to make it up there to see her at least once a week from now on.

123. Food! We finally got groceries! We bought icky, naughty things that are quick and easy to eat, since we are in the middle of a pretty serious kitchen renovation. I can't wait to have our new and improved kitchen!

124. My husband. He bought me 4 wonderful cookbooks for Valentine's day. I can't wait to get back into my kitchen!

125. New glasses. They were super cheap, and I am so excited for them to come. I was a year overdue on getting new contacts and glasses. My vision was getting pretty bad. My eyes have actually improved, so I've been living with too strong of a prescription!

126. Days off of work. I love my job, but it is sure nice to be free a few days a week to clean house, spend extra time with Olivia, run errands, visit people...!

116. New clothes for baby Olivia. My grandma took us shopping this weekend, and she bought Olivia's whole spring/summer wardrobe. I haven't even been able to put every thing away yet. I keep laying out all of the pieces in the living room mixing and matching outfits...It's like I'm pregnant, anticipating a newborn instead of having a 9 month old and anticipating warm weather!

117. Lunch with my little brother. Well, he's not so little anymore...He took Olivia and I out for lunch today. He said he was lonely. We talked non stop for an hour, it was so much fun. Our family is going through a lot right now, and it was nice to talk it out.

118. My parents. They both stopped by this morning to visit Olivia and I.

119. It's getting warmer! I am so excited for good weather. It's chilly, but the sun has made its way out, and the snow is starting to melt!

120. Date night. Bryan took me to Avatar last night. It was really good. We went out to eat afterwards, it was so nice to do something together. We haven't been out on a date for at least 9 months!

121. My grandparents. They LOVE to babysit Olivia...which makes it wayyy easier for us to go on dates!

Baby carrier giveaway.

I just found this awesome giveaway, and I want to share it with you guys!
http://www.carrymeaway.com/pages/Baby-carrier-contest.html

108. Baking. I looooove baking. It is so much fun for me to make yummy, pretty things to share with those I love.

109. The thought of having a brand new oven in a few months...*sighhhh*

110. The fact that Olivia finally took a nap. I wrestled a grumpy baby all morning, and around 2pm she finally decided to give up and sleep a little bit. She is all bright and cheery now!

111. Finger foods. It is so much fun to watch her pick up little peas and shove them into her mouth!

112. My husband's un-ending love. I have felt so close to him lately.

113. Sparkling water. Yummmmmm.

114. My new bathroom. It is actually fun for me to clean the bathroom now!

115. Spring is on the way...!

I am so excited to order from Sew Crafty Baby soon! I won a 10 dollar gift certificate a few weeks ago...now to decide what to get...

101. My sweet, sweet baby. She is a joy.

102. Watching my parents get joy from her. They had a really rough year last year, and my mom has even told me that the baby has helped her get through everything. She is truly a gift from God.

103. The tears my daddy gets in his eyes when Olivia smiles at him.

104. Baby kisses. I got 9 in a row this afternoon. She took a lot of time out of her busy schedule to squeeze in 9 whole kisses!

105. My dear husband who helped me color my hair tonight. What a guy!

106. My brother's laughter. He is one of the funniest people I know, I had tears just laughing at him laughing!

107. My lovely sister in law. Olivia is so crazy about her, and she is so crazy about Olivia.

Check out www.SewCraftyBaby.com!

94. Warm January days. It has been close to 50 degrees several times this week.

95. Potlucks with my church family. I am slowly starting to trust again after all of last year's drama. It felt good to sit down and eat a meal with everyone.

96. Baby showers. A promise of what is to come. I can't wait for little baby girl P to come within a few weeks. The mama is one of my dear friends, and she home births her babies. I can't wait to hear her story, and add it to my mental list of amazing home birth stories...Maybe me...Maybe someday!

97. Fresh babies. I got to meet my cousin's 1 1/2 week old, Ashton. He is beautiful, and so tiny. Olivia was born even smaller than him, it's hard to remember. He smelled so, so sweet.

98. Clean laundry! I have been working hard tonight to get ALMOST everything washed and folded. A few more loads tomorrow should finish it off!

99. The Office. I don't know what I did with my spare time before we discovered THE funniest show ever. We watch the same episodes over and over.

100. Our bathroom almost being done. It's SO close!

I haven't been here for awhile.

88. A 30 degree day after a week of subzero temperatures. I didn't even wear a coat when I went out.

89. My dear mother finally giving in to me, and going to my chiropractor. I am so excited to see her get better.

90. My 8 month old baby. She is such a big girl.

91. Turning around in the computer chair, and seeing Olivia giggling at herself in the mirror, and the 2 cats sleeping peacefully right behind her. Picture perfect.

92. Days off.

93. Having a little "premiere party" with my brother and sister in law for the premiere of Chuck. We are geeks!