Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thankgiving!! The roads were clear and after a call where I lied up and down the wall to my mother (I called when we were just entering Billings, telling her we had just left Portland ;) were able to walk into the door to the excited exclamation of my mother!! It was fun!! See, Mark and I had planned to drive out after work on Wednesday, but on a whim, decided to take Wednesday off but just never got around to telling my family. We told dad, who was able to tip us off when mom got suspicious that we might be arriving earlier than planned. 

We had the car packed Tuesday night and after Mark worked until 12:30am and we grabbed a couple hours of sleep, headed out at 3am. Yikes!! But other than almost running out of gas (it was a rental and the needle dropped much faster than we thought, in a no-gas-station part of Washington), we had a really good drive. In Montana there was fairly recent snow, but the roads were clear so it was a beautiful no-danger drive.

Thursday we went to a 10am service at my parents church, had 20+ people at a 2pm dinner that was fantastic!!! We enjoyed some Guitar Hero 3 and Transformers on my parents 90inch projection screen that was incredible!! We stayed up late playing Guitar Hero and after what was probably a total of 8 hours, beat the medium level by midday on Friday (don't worry, we did go to bed Thursday night). We did manage to stay in our pajamas until close to dinner time when we changed to go to my aunt and uncle's for dinner.

Saturday I enjoyed an early morning coffee talking session in the Montana Room with my parents. Then we had dad's famous pancakes and talked for a bit before packing. By noon we all headed out for a night at Fairmont Hot Springs. It's normally a post-Christmas tradition, but we went early this year. It had been about 8 years since the last time I had been and we realized it was 18 years since the first time the family went. We did the normal dinner at Pizza Hut in Anaconda, where we drove around looking at houses. Anaconda is a cute little town that's near Discover, a great ski hill. The town itself is dying but we are all predicting it's going to take off in so many years and become the next hottest place. We dreamed about going in together on a place there... you can get a 2 bedroom for only 40k!! Although they are at least 50-100 years old and probably in need of work.

It was really neat to have Mark at Fairmont with us. The hot pools were all I'd hoped, although it didn't get much below 20 degrees so there wasn't as much steam coming off the outside pools as there could have been. But the brisk walk from the inside to the outside pools proved that the 20 degree temps were definitely cold enough!!

THANKS to my family for a WONDERFUL thanksgiving weekend!!

Filling up at a ghetto gas station in Lind, WA when we almost ran out... the burnt orange Cobalt was our rental car. You thought we'd drive all the way to Montana in the winter in the Mustang?? Hah!

Driving

View from the car. Beautiful!!

The dining room table set for dinner. My dad "made" the second part of the table the night before but cutting plywood to sit on top of a 6ft table, that matched the same lines as the dining table. I was impressed!

Mark playing Guitar Hero 3 on the big screen at mom and dad's. Their new family room set up is SWEET!!

Goofing around at our Pizza Hut dinner in Anaconda. We were the only ones in there.

The family at Fairmont right before we left. They are good people!

Fairmont

A random shot from the car. The scenery was incredibly gorgeous!! I loved this red barn with the white snow. Classic Montana. I love Big Sky country!!

The mountains and sky going over the pass that took us from Montana into Idaho. It was weird because the minute we crossed over into Idaho the clouds showed up. Otherwise it was a beautiful sunny day!

A sweet thing

This morning I didn't put on any make-up or do anything more with my hair than pull it back into a low pony-tail. I also am not dressed nice in my jeans, a sweatshirt and fleece jacket. When on our way to the bus stop to drop off Mark, he looks over at me and says, "wow, you are SO beautiful!" He seemed to be quite taken with me in that moment. I looked at my reflection in the mirror and wasn't sure why he thought I was beautiful, but was really thankful that's what he sees when he looks at me, even in not-so-attractive clothes, no make-up and frizzy hair.

He's the greatest husband in the world and we have more fun together than I thought possible!! I would love to share some of our funny things, but I'm afraid they wouldn't be as funny to anyone else ;) Lets just say that even though there are a few bumps along the way, being married to Mark is far greater than I imagined!!!

Going Green?

On a work related venture I recently signed up for Ideal Bite daily tips. It's a website that shared ideas for "green" living. It promotes lower energy costs, giving back to our community, etc.

I'm not really a "green" type person. I know people who are and I think it's great, but it's never been my gig. However, after reading these awesome daily tips over the past week I've decided I want to make a more conscious effort.

Check out there idea for Thanksgiving.

I normally don't like a lot of regular newsletters I have to read through, but these are really good, interesting, short, informative, and have excellent ideas. So check it out!

Ben Harper Concert

Monday night Mark and I enjoyed the Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals concert at Keller Auditorium. I surprised Mark with the tickets before we got married. It was a GREAT concert!! Other than Mark being tired from a long day and sleeping through part of the opening act, we had an awesome time!! We also bought the new album for our Montana drive next week and a concert shirt and sweatshirt to remember the event ;)

This is us before the concert started.

Weekend Pictures

Last weekend we drove up to Seattle for Rian's 2nd birthday party. It was very fun!! We stayed both Friday and Saturday night with Steve & Michelle (Mark's brother and sister-in-law). Mark's parents and sister joined us for Saturday and Sunday. It was neat to see Rian turn 2. She is SO cute!!

One thing I love about Peeples family gatherings is they are so relaxed. We don't do much, just hang around and talk and eat and watch tv and everything. Mark and I enjoyed our first nights away from our little apartment and felt like it was a little slumber party ;) Newly married life is still very fun!!

Here are some cute pics of Rian. And if I hadn't previously mentioned, we're all excited for her newest little sibling expected around may!!

(Sorry about the side ways pictures. Not sure what happened.)

Comments from my super wonderful husband!

Hello,
My name is Mark, and this is my first blog. I always thought that blogs are supposed to be about something so deep about life, or the meaning of life or something. So it seems to me that blogs would be a challenge to write. So this might be my last blog :-). But I enjoy reading blogs of others, and it is a great way to keep up on news of others. My wife is a great blogger! My sister in-law is too, and I like reading them all. I love my wife a ton, and I love God!
OK, bye.

I'm curious...

I'm curious.... When do you start listening to Christmas music? After Thanksgiving? Any time in November? Not until December? After Starbucks breaks out the holiday cups? Or some other time?



On a separate note, those of us at Jocelyn's ceramic party a couple weeks ago were asked to post pictures of our finished pieces... mine didn't turn out quite like a hoped, so it's not worth posting. However, the blue was so dark that it almost hid the black text completely. So the fun part is that the "message" at the bottom of my mug for Mark, turned out to be like a secret surprise (when viewed in a very bright) Hah!!
Barb's bowl turned out very nicely though. She even got a "Good Job" note from the ladies who did the firing. You should pressure her post a pic.

Small Life Update

Here's an update on a few things:

Eyes - Mark's eyes are doing well! He's excited about not having to wear corrective lenses of any type although disliked the protective goggles he was required to wear sleeping at night. He had his 1 week check-up today and things were good. He does notice a little blurriness, which the Dr suggested could be from dry or tired eyes.

Running - I ran last night for the first time in 1.5 weeks. I hadn't noticed how my odd knee/leg pains had subsided, until last night's 3 miles on the treadmill. I'm thinking of only running on Saturday's for the rest of the year and doing other workouts at the gym during the week.

Holiday (Tday) plans - we're driving to Montana with Barb! Should be quite the adventure ;) About 14 hours each way. We leave Wednesday after work and return Sunday.

The week - Pretty much every evening this week one of us was sleeping on the couch ;) Or Mark played his Grand Theft Auto game and I wrote Thank You cards (no, still not done yet). During Mark's sleeping bout last night, I got to watch 4 episodes of a show I'm getting on Netflix. Fun!! It's been a low key week, which has been nice. And I'm still trying to get over a little cold.

The weekend - we leave tomorrow night to spend the weekend with Mark's family in Seattle for little Rian's 2nd birthday. Very fun!! Last year at Rian's birthday (when Mark and I were only dating), they had us all write her something on a little piece of paper to save for years down the road. I contributed, at their encouragement, and am relieved this year to know that she won't be reading something in 15 years from some random chic her uncle dated when she was only 1 ;) I'm excited to see Mark's family now that I'm officially IN. And other than our honeymoon, it will be our first couple nights away together. Will be fun to share a bed someplace else ;)

By the way, my friend Marla informed me that I ran the Portland Marathon a couple minutes faster than Katie Holmes. I'm not sure, but that makes me feel good ;)

Thoughts on life with God

There are areas of my life in which I wonder, is this all I was supposed to do? Is this really all God had in mind for me?

I've yet to determine the answer to these questions. I try and make sure my filters are on and turned up high. My filters are questions I ask myself like, are you looking for satisfaction in this thing instead of God? Are you defining yourself by this thing instead of God? This area of my life seems to pass through these filters, time and time again. Sometimes the answers are good and sometimes they prompt some soul work. And yet, I'm still here. Why?

In this area of my life, why does this seem to be all God has planned for me?

Or is it and I'm missing a boat? No. Something in my gut tells me I'm supposed to be here. But I don't know why.

Last night in my book study group I mentioned that the first thing I want to do when I get to heaven is sit in front of a big 3-D screen (but without the stupid glasses that give you headaches) like at Omsi, in comfy reclining chairs, with God at my side, and replay my entire life. We briefly discussed last night what kind of emotions we might have or not have in heaven so I'm not sure if I'll cry at times or be embarrassed. But I want God to show me my life and explain why things happened the way they did.

Of course, then I'll say, OH!! That makes perfect sense. Wow! You really did know what you were doing. I should have trusted you more.

If I KNOW I will say that then, why can't I just trust him more now? I feel like I have a decent imagination, but even I can only come up with really weird or crazy ideas that seem too far-fetched to put any stock into why things play out the way they do sometimes.

But I will admit that I frequently I fall into the trap of thinking I have a better way. Thinking I know the way that would be best for me.

That's the one filter I never seem to get through, am I trusting God that He really does have my best interest in mind in this situation?

Most of the time, my answer is no.