Friends & Family on Friday

Breakfast out of town is usually a far cry from whatever dietary regimen I'm trying to follow, but I can't say I was upset about some turkey bacon and eggs to get the day started. To top it, we stopped by my old stomping grounds to say hi to a few familiar faces, and the new ones I'd not yet met.

Man, I miss these guys!

oh, how i miss these two! [& the rest of that team!]

We didn't plan it, but it turned out we'd see Marc twice today; we ran into him several hours later at Bindy's. We were set for the afternoon to celebrate Christmas with Rob's mom and stepdad, which provided the final item on Rob's Christmas wish list. We've now got a new acoustic for the house, and I have to say, it's beautiful.

he's in love! 

A couple hours later, we wrapped everything up at Rob's mom's and headed back to Dillon's to decide how to allocate the remaining hours of the night.

Bindy's it was. The crowd started pouring in as it does every time I've seen the place, and with it came Marc, who we just saw earlier this morning, and even Taryn, who was at a birthday party just before stopping through to see us. There were plenty of other familiar faces, which made for a fun [long, but fun] night!

hi jesse, hi taryn! :) 

taryn :) 

random snapchat? 

I'm not even sure who that SnapChat ended up going to, but if I had to guess, it was probably Ali & Damanji. Either way, it's been a night with these folks and I'm happy to have spent it the way we did. I'm also happy to be home for the night.... ;)

That being said, G'Nite!

xo | cmd

This Guy...

Tonight was a mini craft/homework night for Sydni and me, but this guy... provided hours of entertainment that I couldn't help but note:

yeeeeeeup

Ladies, I'm just gonna go ahead and tell ya it's okay to be jealous.
... and maybe a little scared. Hahaha.

Family > Blog tonight.

xo | cmd

Remember, Life is Beautiful

What an incredible day this has been.


best friend. scottsdale arizona. rooftop @ izzy's.

I mean, thoroughly incredible.
I am in Phoenix, awaiting the arrival of a plane that will deliver me back to the midwest, just reflecting on the past four days. I'm in a state of raw gratitude.

Scottsdale has been my little bunker for the past couple of days; I've been on a mini vacation here with my best friend, Kalyn. It seems like I blinked and Thursday night turned into Sunday evening, but it was entirely worth it and I'm already looking forward to my next trip out.

peroni & fire. hi, sunday (:

Today started off with a trip in to Mojo [& a breakfast burrito, deeee-lish], then off to do some Christmas shopping for Kalyn's list before we headed back to Grayhawk to rendezvous with KP's friend and coworker, Jennette. She's probably the prettiest real-life human being I think I've ever seen. Sidenote. Haha.

Keifer works across the street from Grayhawk at Isabella's Kitchen (Izzy's), so we parked ourselves there for some Peroni, some food, and some live music by Ryan & Madison. This girl was only 12 years old, but I can tell she's got a future brewing. She's talented!

Of course, there was a fire pit and a random girl insistent on being a camera woman. Couple that with peroni refills and you've got a couple of best friends as happy as could be on a day that couldn't have been any more relaxing.  

cori. kalyn. jennette | izzy's - scottsdale, az

SO much so that we found ourselves doing back handsprings and triple planks in the middle of the golfcourse. Yeah, it was that good. Hahaha. Jennette joined in, too, at one point. There's not much bad to be said about a Sunday afternoon spent lounging by a firepit with good friends, live music, and spirited brew.

attempt #1 @ triple planking = unsuccessful.

ok. double plank then. we'll compromise.

These are the things that entertain us. In front of mountains, live music, and Christmas lighted wicker reindeer, there was us, doing this. We finally had a breakthrough:


attempt #3 : success!

Ahhhhhhhhhh. What. A. GREAT... trip this was.


I'll be home in a matter of hours.. we'll see if Rob can get that crazy diesel up to the parking garage at the airport in time to pick me up... otherwise it's gonna be a looooong walk home. Haha. So long, for now, Arizona. I'll be back in January some time for another visit, and I'll be sure to bring some extra company with me (:

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.

xo | cmd

God's Moving at the Tower :)

Towerview is, as one of my co-workers says when things are a-happenin', Cookin' with Gas!

Happy baptism week, #3!

little tanner!

If there is one reason to reflect back on VBS and be forever thankful, it is clearly evident when a child is moved to be baptized. I was priveleged enough to work directly with two of his big sisters Kirsten & Kaitlyn for the music ministry, so it was between their two beaming smiles that I sat and captured these little shots of Pastor Ron and Tanner in the baptistry. AMEN!

I felt like today flew right on by. My family is still in town, so after church, the lot of us tailed over to McAllister's for lunch before heading home. We all went down for some afternoon siesta time back at the house before rallying back at the church for the business meeting and Q&A session for Joe as he prepares for his transition onto the volunteer staff at Towerview. It was a lot to recount here, but we are certainly blessed, I'll say that much :).

The week starts back in full swing tomorrow. My family heads back to Ohio, along with Sydni [vaca week for everybody while she's with Nana & Pappy! Heh..]. We will certainly miss her, but this time is good for all of us, and we know it.

The jam session is already in progress here in the house - Jonathan & Paul are giving the guitars a workout and I think it's time to join 'em...

xo | cmd

Celebrate Family!

my sister!

I get that this holiday weekend was built on the foundation of the holiday itself: Memorial Day.
I am in no way, shape or form trying to detract at all from the gravity of what tomorrow represents.
I am saying that because of the extended weekend, we are here, visiting family, and for that I am celebrating. I love my family, and I was given a quick reminder today that they are just as incredible as they've always been, and that it's only getting better.

For example:  My daughter alone is growing like an outta control weed - she's developing into her own faster than I can follow, and I love it. My husband has since left the Air Force and re-joined the world of auto glass. My sister's family is blooming into this band of musically and artistically talented souls who continue to impress me every time we're together. My great niece Emmie will turn four this year. My parents are remodeling their kitchen. My cousins' kids [my 2nd cousins] are in their mid-20's now. Where is time going???? Holy smokes.

emmie & sydni ... strategy meeting. haha

Anyway, these types of holidays are typically fail-proof in bringing all of us together in one spot at the same time. I say that we're all scattered; that's halfway true. I think I say it more-so just because we are now the ones living remotely. The bulk of my family is located within a 20-30 mile radius of each other. With the exception of us, and my cousins in PA, the majority of the family is back in Ohio. I said all that to say that while the drive can be a little tedious, it is totally worth it to have even just one weekend with my family.

mom outdoing herself yet again!

syd & lola

It didn't take us long at all to get right into the swing of things; Cynthia & Brian brought not just Emmie, but their little puppy Lola, too. It was about 10 whole minutes before Sydni had assessed the little fuzzball as a non-threatening situation, and for the rest of the evening made herself Lola's personal babysitter. Since they were just about the same size - we'll say proportionally-balanced - it was pretty funny watching her tote Lola around all afternoon, everywhere she went. The dinner table, water balloon fight, and campfire were no exceptions. I think she wants one. Hmm. Not gonna happen, not just yet.

water balloon prep..... the dry phase..

Oh, and we had a full blown water fight that stemmed from my mom's idea for an innocent water balloon toss. We warned her that this would spiral out of control; she didn't believe us, but I think she realized it when the water balloons started flying, then the buckets came out, then the hose itself, along with some squirt guns intended originally for just the kids. Needless to say, by the end of it, we were all soaked to the core. That's right, I love my family. :)

kiddies all dried off :)

After we'd swapped all of our sopping wet gear for dry clothes, wiped off all of our runny makeup and tied up stringy hair, we made haste with it to get the fire pit started up for some s'mores & such.. because really what is a family shindig without gooey, chocolatey marshmallow sandwiches?? Duh. :p

marshmallows. this is a science around here....

fire! 

roasting with mini :) 

It's been an incredible weekend. I love my family, and I appreciate so much having the time to come and spend with them. We head back tomorrow to IL; it's gonna be another couple of months before we're back up this way; that makes it all the more perfect to have this time when we can.

I.
AM.
SPENT. 

Time to get some sleep and put my drivin' eyes in. See ya tomorrow. 

xo | cmd

I'm So Cheap..



$35?! are you crazy?
[[stay tuned]]

So I was en route to check out at Target on my lunch break today, and of course took a detour through one of the home decor aisles. I ran across this little guy, and decided that at some point in the near future, I am going to replicate it, or craft something very similar.
I feel inspired today.

I'll keep you posted, my dear Blogbots.

xo | cmd

Pre-Christmas Begins!



comfort candle
accompanied by frankson the festive flamingo

So it was decided by Diana yesterday that we would do an office breakfast together this morning in early celebration of the big day. Diana and Marc made a baked French toast of which I regret both a) not photographing, and b) eating, but both of those ensued just that way, and that’s that. Breakfast was accompanied by the gifting of aromatic candles catered perfectly to the individual stylings of each of us, plus a very nice little bonus. My two staffing consultant colleagues did not disappoint in their thoughtful gifts, either. Between the French toast, white-chocolate pretzels, homemande puppy chow, miniature fruit cake, and various other festively-sugared adornments, it was a wonder we all weren’t bouncing off the walls by the time we bid the office adieu for the long weekend.



sydni & her guests:
pappy | nana | aunt heidi


My parents and sister were on their way in from Ohio, and, with medium amount of fuss, arrived at our *house* late in the evening. This is special in that Joe and I have been blessed with a house that very unique arrangement between us and one of the families at our church here in IL. Long story short, the townhouse we originally shared when we first moved here was working out just fine as a temporary thing. A couple at our church was in the process of a job-related relocation out-of-state, a situation requiring them to buy a home at their new destination, but also leaving them with an unsold house here. The only catch for us was that they had already enlisted the services of a real estate agent. In the meantime, they decided to entrust their beautiful home to a young family in their church [ooh! That's us!]. So we're here, disguising this house's mortgage payment as monthly rent, and in doing so being blessed with the space and amenities of an actual house, not a townhouse apartment.

God is good. God is faithful.
Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.



family shot | sisterly jam session | duets with paul & heidi



Anywho, so here we are, and there my family was, walking through the front door under the semi-false pretense that they were making a pitstop at the home of some of our church friends. Not a total lie, no, but we wanted to give them a big surprise for their first visit to our house. Needless to say, our near month of careful awareness in passing conversation paid off; they had no idea.

We got another surprise for the weekend: My sister's beau, inspired Christian Contemporary artist Paul Clark, made his way from Kansas to spend the evening with all of us. That meant an inevitable chunk of the evening dedicated to guitar-playing, singing, and eventually an impromptu photo shoot of the whole family loaded up with guitars and huge smiles. We have a blast around here :).



happy almost Christmas eve!



I love my family.

The lineup for this weekend looks pretty solid: tomorrow, we'll relax here and spend the day together before the Christmas Eve service at church. On Christmas, we'll enjoy the church's Christmas Day celebration, and then we'll cook our hearts out for our Christmas dinner with our family, the Babots, Pages, Sandvens, and Jarod :).

This is gonna be a great weekend. I can't wait!

xo | cmd