Sibling Night

On Saturday night Isaac and Carina came to Des Moines after work and we went along with the Nikki's to HP7 in Imax. It was my first real movie to watch in Imax [I've only seen nature movies]. It was good to see it again as it's of course an amazing movie. I thought it was going to be in 3d, but it wasn't so my siblings were a little upset about that. After the movie I made us all takes pictures by the posters (everyone else was pretty enthused about this as well). I was going to take pictures at the premier, but Courtney got to excited about leaving so we didn't take any.

After the movie we went to Dahl's to get some supplies for dinner that I needed to add. I made trader joe's tortellini with pesto. The pesto wasn't our favorite, but it wasn't awful. Then we also had salad with feta cheese along with garlic bread. It was a nice little meal for our little sibling family and I was the good big sis making the food for them.

We then watching some tv before going to bed. We had a little sleepover in my room (because I sort of made them). Carina was kind of a lame-o and went right to bed. In the morning I made them pancakes and they left so she could get back for work.

It was a good night to hang out with my siblings. I loved catching up with them and getting to spend the night together since we haven't all 3 been together in about a month.

Here's some pictures of our moving.

Worship Wednesday- "Give Me Your Eyes"

New shoes and Worlds of Fun

On Saturday in the afternoon I went shopping with my cousins: McKenzie, Haley, Lacey, Kylie; aunts: Twila and Michele; grandma, great-grandma, and mom. We went to a mall in Kansas City and it was pretty fun. The theme for everyone shopping was buying shoes. I think 5 of us each bought a new pair of shoes. Having a size 10 shoe makes finding fun colored shoes very difficult for me. They normally only have the small sizes left so at multiple stores I asked to try on a shoe and found out they didn't have my size.I bought 2 pairs. One pair of Nike tennis shoes that are black with some bright blue and pink on them. I really like them and they are super comfortable. I also bought a new pair of Toms. I've been wanting a new pair for awhile and when Tradehome had them in fun colors I thought I'd have to see if they had my size. They did and so I of course had to buy them.

Around 5 my cousins: McKenzie, Lacey, Kylie along with my uncles: Mike and Todd and Aunt Michele all went to Worlds of Fun. I had a lot of fun. I've never been there before-I like to tell my parents that I'm a deprived child. I love amusement parks and don't really go as often as I would like. My cousin Kylie got dehydrated so about half of the group left a little early. Michele, McKenzie, and later Todd (when he came back to the park) stayed until almost closing time of midnight. I got to ride on all of the roller coasters-some in the light and in the dark. We also rode on most of the other rides in the park. Overall it was a very successful day-and my new tennis shoes got some great use!

Cousin's Wedding

On Friday night my cousin Nick got married to Leslie. It was a small wedding, but full of tons of little details. It was really cool. It was also great to see all of my family again and to hang out and dance the night away. I also got some wonderful coloring in with my cousin Haley that I didn't take pictures of. 
I love weddings and it was especially nice to be at one where I actually really know the couple. So Leslie welcome to our crazy family!

The happy couple!

 

Some of the little details...

Photo Booth shots....

                     

Some final pictures:

Remembering Grandpa Todd

On Sunday my great grandpa Lloyd Todd passed away. Over the past few years his health had slowly declined. He wasn't able to do a lot of the things that he loved like: garden, farm, drive, fish, and travel. He's been in the nursing home now for about a year and it was somewhat difficult to watch his health decline. For that reason I had mixed emotions about his death. I was happy that he was no longer in pain, but sad that he was gone from this life. This February the Sioux City Journal wrote an article about my great-grandparents that was really good so click the link if you'd like to read it.

I thought I'd post some of my favorite memories of my grandpa Todd [some I remember and some I remember because they're stories that have been told for so long I feel like they are my own memories]:

• Every December making popcorn balls and other Christmas treats with Grandma and Grandpa Todd, Grandma Marcia, Grandpa Don, and my family. It was also fun to squeeze together the popcorn balls. When we were younger we made SOOOO many-grandma and grandpa todd would pop most of the popcorn and he would always help us squeeze them together. The last couple of years he really wasn't able to help us and I know that was hard for him.
• Whenever we would visit their house in the summer-we would have fresh veggies and they always made sure that we brought tons home. Also occassionly we would go out in the garden and help them out.
• Grandpa Todd always had candy to give us. I also remember going to their house and them having frozen ice cream snickers bars, which I loved to eat.
• I'll always remember camping with them. At South Sioux campground one weekend I remember getting to fish with grandpa. Everything we caught were tiny fish, but it was still fun.

Those are just a few of the many memories that I have of my great-grandpa that I will always remember. He was always a very happy guy who was full of tons of stories of growing up during the Great Depression with all his siblings. One of his favorites to tell was that when their mom called them to eat you had to run to the table or you wouldn't get food. I was never sure how much he embellished that story, but it was still a fun one. He always had a smile and loved to talk to everyone he met. I will miss seeing him and spending time with him, but am glad that he is no longer suffering.

Worship Wednesday- "Blessings"

Recently I've started posting music videos of songs that I've really enjoyed. I decided to start a new thing on my blog called worship wednesday where I post a worship song that I like. Hopefully I'll be able to remember to do this each wednesday.
Here's this weeks song:

First Blessing Bag

*Just to warn you this isn't the best writing-it's more my rambling thoughts from awhile ago so I apologize for this.

About a week or so ago I had the opportunity to give away my first blessing bag.

To be honest I'd had a least one opportunity to give one away, but I was in a hurry and the guy was holding a sign about a couple lanes of traffic away so I used that as the excuse as to why I didn't stop to give him the bag. After I did this I was really disappointed with myself for not just taking the time to stop and give him one. Then a couple weeks later I had the opportunity.

I was driving to target and as I pulled in I saw a man holding a sign that said something about how his family was hungry. I was like ok I can give him a bag. The only problem is that they're in my trunk and so right now isn't the best time to stop in the intersection, when I'd have to get in my trunk. I did have the idea that maybe I should just pull over in the parking lot, get the bag, then walk it over to the man. Later I realized it was probably God telling me to do this.

Instead I made the decision to go into target then put a bag in my car so I could reach it and hand it to him on my way out of the parking lot. When I came out from target and drove to the intersection where he was standing he wasn't there anymore. I was again very mad at myself for not just stopping and giving it to him. It was a little selfish of me-since it wasn't at my ideal time to be handing it out. I was also angry that I hadn't listened to that gut feeling [God] and instead gone with what I thought would work out the best for me.

I then had the feeling that I should drive a different way home through more intersections because maybe the man had moved. [Again God telling me this] As I drove home I didn't see him and didn't see him. I was still thinking it through in my head and just getting mad at myself. Then at another intersection I saw the man. So I turned around and drove to this intersection, rolled down my window, and gave him the bag. He told me God bless you, and thanked me. I turned around so I  could go back home and as I did this I saw him drinking the water. This made me happy-that God could use me in such a way to bless this man and give him a drink. I did feel bad that the water has been in my car since April so it obviously wasn't cold, but at least it was wet.

It was a great reminder during a difficult week for me that God was there and had a plan. Even when I don't listen to what he wants me to do. When I think that I know the best way to do something or have my own plan that makes sense to me-it doesn't always work out in the best way for others. But when I do listen and follow his plan then I have the opportunity to bless others. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to give out more bags and have the willingness to listen to God when he wants me to do something.