not Wordless Wednesday

Steven and I before the pinning of the badge ceremony.

watching their daddy get sworn in.

It's official, #3 baby!

The newest members of the FFFD!

Last night Steven and these other men were officially made FF Firemen.

They were sworn in and received their badges.

It was such an awesome event and we are so proud of all of them, especially Steven.

Happy "GOLDEN" 15th Birthday Miranda

15 years old...wow!

15 fabulous years ago my sister gave birth to her first daughter making me an Auntie.

I was there to witness the whole thing and what an amazing experience it was.

I am very proud of this beautiful young lady, she is going to go far in this life!

Happy birthday Miranda Lea Anne! I love you~

Wordless Wednesday: one day of God's beauty.

1:30pm

3:40pm

5:20pm

(all pics are taken from my iPhone and edited with the Instagram app.)

One year ago today...

Steven was hired onto the FFFD.

So thankful for this opportunity and dream come true for him.

He makes me a very proud to be his wife.

one little word...

One little word can make a huge difference in your life, in your thinking, in your actions...

This year is the first year I am participating in Ali Edward's "One Little Word."

This year, along with making a few New Year Resolutions, I am choosing "one little word."

I starting thinking about this about three weeks ago. One word, a word that can make a difference in my life, make an impact, inspire me, help me, be with me daily, in my thoughts and actions.

Embrace:

em·brace

¹   verb, -braced, -brac·ing, noun

verb (used with object)

1.

to take or clasp in the arms; press to the bosom; hug.

2.

to take or receive gladly or eagerly; accept willingly: toembrace an idea.

3.

to avail oneself of: to embrace an opportunity.

4.

to adopt (a profession, a religion, etc.):

5.

to take in with the eye or the mind.

I want to embrace my children, my husband, my relationships, my work, my body, my fears, my LIFE!

I want to live in the now. I don't want to take anyone or anything from granted. I want to embrace what this world has to offer me kicking, screaming or with a smile on my face...preferably with a smile on my face.

I can't wait to embrace 2012 and all it has to offer!

New Year, New Resolutions.

Last year I made several New Year Resolutions and looking back I did pretty good.

I am proud to say that...

~I did NOT buy any pop for our home this year. I didn't say I didn't drink any, I'm just sayin' that I did not buy it for our home.

~I did NOT run a 5k, I did however run a 1 mile and that was plenty. I have always thought I "wanted" to run a 5k until I ran a 1 mile. I am not a runner and don't enjoy running, at all!!!

~I did lessen my Coffee Hut habit. In February I got a Keurig, BESTTHINGEVER!!!

~I did drink more water and after much research we decided vitamins were not beneficial for our family, but that Juice Plus is! We all started taking Juice Plus about 4 months ago and love it!

~I did work out 10 of the 12 months this year. Not bad.

~I did in fact yell LESS. I asked my boys and they both agreed that I did yell less, Yah!

~Chemical Free-we were mostly chemical free using mostly our Norwex. I did buy a few containers of Clorox wipes for quick wipe-ups but that was the only chemical bought and used in our home. We got very good use of our Norwex this year.

I think I did a great job at resolving some issues in my life.

I am still mulling over this years resolutions and think I'm going to do Ali Edwards "one little word."

I will be back this week to post about what I've come up with!

Happy 2012, may your year be blessed~

personal project/four people/twelve times/12.11

Well, I didn't manage to take one single picture of the four of us in November, so no personal project post for November and it looks like I was only able to get ONE blog post in total for November. Not good since I said I would post about things I was thankful for. I did however post daily on Facebook what I was thankful for.

December: What a busy and FUN month.

I LOVE, LoVe, love Christmastime. I haven't always though. I would say within the last five years or so I have really taken a hold of the Christmas season and ran with it. Starting in November, right after Thanksgiving I start to feel it. The magic that IS Christmastime. I love all of it. The reason we celebrate, the music, the traditions, the baking, the extra time off with the boys, the smells, the feelings inside my heart, all of it!

This Christmas season was Ah-maz-ing!

~Each day started with our daily advent activity.

~We did a lot of crafts I got from Pinterest, like reindeer feet prints, yarn wrapped Christmas trees and candy cane reindeer.

~We baked. We shared our baked goods and we received baked goods from friends.

~We hosted two Christmases and loved it.

~We attended the Hillcrest Lutheran Academy band concert which was beautiful, LOVED it!

~All the time spent with family and friends.

~We bell rang for the Salvation Army. This was the first year we've done it as a family and the boys held up well. Abram lasted about 25 minutes before he was starting to get too cold, but after a quick warm up inside Walgreens he was ready to complete the hour.

~We went to a few Christmas parties.

~The boys each had their own separate Christmas school programs and did a fabulous job.

~We played games, LOTS of games. Jenga, Old Maid, Wii.

~We took a trip to the cities. After last Christmas, I was overwhelmed with the thought of them getting more "stuff" so this year we decided that instead of giving the boys gifts from us, we would take them somewhere instead. Ethan and I went to a Vikings game while Steven and Abram went to the Aquarium. We all had a wonderful time doing that. We stayed at the Mall of America water park & hotel and it was incredible! So!Much!Fun!!! The next day we went to the Lego store so they could spend their Christmas money from Grammy. Over and over again I kept hearing, "This is the BEST Christmas ever!" Steven and I decided that "Less IS More" and think we will make this a new Christmas tradition. They did however get stockings, still something to have on Christmas morning.

~We attended the most beautiful Christmas Eve service where I was so moved by the Spirit. I wanted to take a picture for fear I will someday lose that image of my family sitting in that beautiful church singing the most beautiful Christmas hymns and all being together. I closed my eyes tight and hopefully it's a sight I will never forget.

~We built Rice Krispie houses instead of gingerbread houses, way easier and the boys enjoyed it!

~We went to Johnson's, a favorite annual Christmastime tradition.

~The weather, oh the weather. This was the first December in the 9 Decembers we've lived here that we've had no snow! And not only no snow but it was warm! I wore flip flops well into mid December and it was 40 on Christmas day and the sunset, breathtaking!

Such a wonderful feeling.

~17! The boys had 17 days off from school. I have really enjoyed this time with them. All the things we've done, all the memories made, all the love felt...such an awesome Christmas break.

I can say that December was a perfect way to end 2011. Well...except we have all come down with a cold. Ethan had it for about 2 days, Abram still has a cough, Steven was down and out for about 5 days and it just hit me a yesterday. I am so thankful that it waited until after Christmas to hit us and it didn't hit our kids that hard, such a blessing!

(picture taken tonight from my bed where I've spent most of the day)

2011 was a fabulous year, I am looking forward to what 2012 has in store for the NessNest.