NY, my home state

I arrived in NY on Thursday afternoon, after stopping by a friend's house in PA to stay the night. The drive went really well, and I made it here in one piece. I always love coming up to NY to visit family, and friends. Although I absolutely loved living in Southern Virginia, NY has a really special place in my heart! I always have NY pride, but I feel it more when I am away from my home state, and then come visit. I love the crazy drivers, people's attitudes, strong accents, and everything inbetween. There is something about a New Yorker that I feel comfortable with. I'm so glad that I still feel at home here.

Oven Angel

I know that you are all dying to hear about my possessed oven. God is good, and sent a little angel... aka electrical man, to the house to fix the oven. All is well, and the oven is no longer possessed. Hopefully we are done burning things!

As to be expected

We had a great weekend in Roanoke, VA with our Newport News friends...as to be expected! Katey's shower was so special, and I felt honored to be a part of it. John and I haven't seen the Tollers in just about a month, but it felt like years! It was so good to laugh, play, and just catch up with them.

The next few weeks will be so busy! I leave for NY this week to see family for the holidays! John has to work up until December 23, so we'll come up Tuesday night. It will be so good to see friends that I didn't get to see over the short Thanksgiving break. We'll be up in NY for about two weeks. Yah!

Celebrating other people's blessings

John and I are so excited for this weekend because we get to spend it with our best friends, the Tollers! We are headed to Roanoke, VA for Katey's baby shower. We've been looking forward to this weekend for many reasons, one because we get to hang out with the Tollers, and two because we get to share in Katey's baby shower. Katey and Matt have struggled similarly to us with pregnancy issues, and baby Kaiten Rae is a true blessing! Although it is sometimes hard to continually attend other people's baby showers, I am always reminded to not be jealous of other people's blessings. I think that is we admitted it, a lot of us struggle with this. It obviously doesn't have to be with a baby, but so many other things such as a friend getting a new car, a family member getting a nice raise, or bonus at their job, someone getting praise that you feel you deserved, a co-worker having a nicely decortated house, a friend having top of the line electronics...the list can go on and on!

That is such a hard lesson for me! I hate to admit it, but I have a jealous streak, and I try so hard to not let it get the best of me. It is a part of me that really bothers me, and I know it's not something that makes God proud. It's so crazy how something as special as a birth of a baby, or the news that a dear friend is pregnant can draw out jealousy in me. I know that is not God's best for me, and that I should celebrate with my friends, and not focus on our losses.

God continually reminds me through his voice, and the voice of friends, that John and I will one day celebrate the birth of our child. God will one day (hopefully soon) bless us with a healthy baby, and I know that we'll be surrounded with family, and friends at a shower of our own. Until then, I need to continue to work on patience, and faith that God has a plan for John and I as parents. There is no doubt that God moving us to West Virginia was part of a special plan to help us get closer, and form an even tighter bond as husband and wife.

Random honeymoon memories

Let me just start this off by saying I know this post is totally random!

For some reason, I was reminded of our awesome honeymoon this week. Probably because it's cold here, and my mind took me somewhere warm! Occasionally, I'll flip through pictures of our honeymoon, and remember what an awesome time we had together, in such a beautiful place. John and I are trying to schedule a cruise in January! We haven't been on a real vacation since our honeymoon. (He says Germany doesn't count because he was on business.) We always say that nothing could ever top our honeymoon. It was beautiful, and so romantic!

Anyway, here are some of my favorite honeymoon pictures!

My oven is possessed!

Since I am not working, I have lots of time to do things I didn't really have much time for before, such as baking. I really love to cook, but baking is another story. I think it has to do with the importance of following a recipe. When I cook, I don't use recipes, but you pretty much have to when baking. I decided to look up some holiday cookie recipes.

I made Oatmeal Raisin cookies earlier this week, and they turned out pretty good, but the first dozen got badly burned because my oven is possessed! I'll set it to a certain temperature, and then when I open the oven to put something in it to bake, the temperature goes way, or way down. I don't mean a little degree or two here and there, I mean up or down about 150 degrees!

I found a great recipe called Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Shortcake Cookies (a long title...I know), and was all excited to make them today! Everything went great, until the actual baking part came in. The oven was already pre-heated and set to go. I put the cookies in at 350 degrees, and set the times for 14 minutes. When the timer went off, I checked on the cookies and they were still all dough, and the temperature was down to 150 degrees! Another example of my oven being possessed! I turned the oven off, and let it chill for a little bit. I then turned it back on to 350 to preheat. When it was all set, I put the cookies in again, and set the timer for 14 minutes. When the timer went off, I came in to get the cookies, and it was bad...so bad! There was smoke coming our of the oven, and the raspberry preserves was like molten hot lava! Some of the cookies made it, but most did not. The temperature was at 500 degrees! What the *&$ is that? Anyway, John came home and tried to eat some to make me feel better, but the poor guy choked on the burnt cookies.

So, all in all, my oven and I are not on speaking terms!

These were supposed to be yummy cookies.

This was the bad tray. It pretty much ruined my night :(

Thumbs up (left) Thumbs down (right)

John being a good boy, and trying out the cookies.

Christmas decorations

My friend posted pictures of her tree, and it reminded me that I totally forgot to post pictures of our tree, and Christmas decorations around the house. John and I actually had the itch to decorate weeks ago, before Thanksgiving actually! Where we're living now, it snows almost everyday, and it's hard to resist the urge when there is pretty snow, and Christmas lights lining the streets. Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things! I love to put on Christmas music, specifically Mariah Carey 'All I Want For Christmas Is You', and dance around the house. John is in charge of putting up the tree, and the lights. I have a name for him when he does that job- Christmas Tree John. He gets in the zone, and is all serious...no play. I put the decorations on the tree, and dress the house. We have a good system going. It's always sad to take the decorations down after New Years because the house feels so empty without them. Anyway, here are some of our pictures.

WARNING...the pictures are really blurry because the flash was acting really weird!!

We met people!

John and I were at the YMCA working out on Thursday night, and we met a married couple around our age. We hung out with them that night, went to a Christmas parade with them and had dinner together on Friday, and went to a basketball tournament with them today. He is a youth pastor at a little church outside town, and we are going to try it out this Sunday. Yah for making friends!!! I think they'll be Wild and Wonderful!

Running

So, a few months ago John started to exercise, running to be specific and he loves it! Not only did he lose over ten pounds, he feels better too. We are members of the YMCA here, and have been going pretty consistently together since living in WV. I decided to give running a chance. I normally go on the eliptical machine, and then do some free weights. I have a serious hatred towards running because I have asthma, which makes any exercise, but specifically running near impossible. I am glad to announce that I ran 1.2 miles today! I was SO proud of myself, and John was so proud of me too! If you know me, you know it's a big deal for me to exercise, and an even bigger deal to run! If you are into running, and have any tips, or pearls of wisdom you want to throw this way, please do so! I really want to keep it up so I can lose some weight, but also be healthier overall. My goal is to go to the gym four-five days a week, and run about three of those days. Again, please let me know if you have any tips. Thanks :)

Thanksgiving in NY

The 'Grosso Girls'

Baby Stella Rose Grosso

Rebecca, Sam, and Stella

Rebecca and Stella

As you can see, it was very cold in NY!

Auntie Leah and Baby Stella

Uncle John and B aby Stella

We just got back from a great holiday weekend in NY with family, and friends! We were able to spend five days in NY with both families, as well as catch up with old friends. We also got to meet our new niece, Stella Rose Grosso. She is so beautiful, and we both fell hard in love with her! We brought Kaya up with us, and she had a great time hanging out with her animal cousins! There were so many dogs for her to play with, and she had as good time. Being up in NY with both families made it hard to leave, but at the same time, it was nice to retrun home to WV. We'll be up in NY again in just a few weeks for Christmas...yah!

Deer Chili...yummmmmmmm :)

One of John's co-workers gave us some deer meat in all forms- ground, patties, and tenderloins. We decided to make a yummy deer chili out of the meat. We got a recipe off the internet, and it looks so good! We have never made any recipes with deer meat before, so this was fun! We got some pictures to capture the experience of cooking 'Bambi'. Sorry all you vegetarians, I don't meet to make you sick!

Everyone is cold

Announcing baby Stella...!

We have a niece!! Baby Stella was born this afternoon, and mom and baby are doing well! We are so excited that we get to see her when we got up for Thanksgiving in just a few days! Pictures to come...

A little more reddish...

I went a little more reddish yesterday. It may not look too different, but it is. Over the years, my hair has become more tinted with brown, which I'm not crazy about. I want my red back!!! I've got it, well...at least for 6-8 weeks :) It took me a few hours to get used to it, but I really like it! John really likes it too :)

SNOW!

Yah! It started snowing this morning, and it's been falling all day! It's the perfect kind of snow, just enough to make everything look pretty, but not too much so the roads are bad. Here are some pictures.