Monday Confessional

While driving to work the other day, I was be-bopping along to the radio like the dork mom that I am (read: dancing in the car like a fool), when I realized... hey I kinda really like this song! It's so catchy! And kinda funny! 

So I shazammed that sucker (because I drive a 1999 suburban that doesn't have a fancy stereo that tells me the song title and artist, like those of you living in the current decade) and this is what the app brought up: "Love Yourself".

by... JUSTIN BIEBER.

And I swear I said outloud: "What? No. Wait, what? No! Really?! Oh crap NO!"

But the fact remains, I still like the song. (and dare I say it, the clever music video.)

This is a very conflicting time for me.

Oh How We've Grown

When I started blogging back in 2010, this is what our family looked like...

{photo credit Be Photography}

(I still have this picture on my blog's "about me" page. Perhaps it's time to update it? Maybe?)

But look at us now!

Suuuuper crazy, right? I mean, TEENAGERS.

(The story behind our recent pictures is kind of funny. I wanted a picture for our Christmas cards so I asked my sister to come over one Sunday after church and we piled in our suburban and drove a couple miles up the road. We pulled over on the side when we came to a pretty spot, hopped out, and posed right on the center line while she snapped a couple shots. Maybe 5 total. Then we hopped back in the car and drove home, never seeing another vehicle. The whole thing took 10 minutes. We used my camera and I edited the shots and ordered my christmas cards online that evening. If that's not the easiest photo shoot you could ask for, I don't know what is. Thanks, Kelly!)

A lot has changed in six years. Back then I was an at-home mom working on potty training my youngest. I was home a lot more, had less commitments, and consistently blogged 5 days a week. For years.

Now I work outside the home part-time, run kids around to their different activities full-time, and am listening to my youngest recite multiplication, for pete's sake. I'm lucky to blog 2-3 times a week, or be caught up on laundry for even one day.

What hasn't changed though? I love my little blog, and I love my life... exactly how it is right now. Our theme in bible study this year is "seasons" - enjoying the season you're in - and I'm really embracing it. It's such a good season!

Can't wait to see where we are in another 6 years.

Family Prayer - Take Sixteen

According to "our records", this year was our 16th year getting together with Russ's whole fam to share our prayer requests for this coming year and reflect back on what God did in 2015. Over half of the kids in this picture weren't even born back when we started in 2000 (Russ and I were just newlyweds) and now some of them are in college! 

In 2011 we decided to also make a time capsule when we gathered together, to be opened in five years, which meant we got to crack it open this past weekend! 

Everyone poured over the letters and lists and items they'd put in, and we laughed a lot at the kids' diary entries of their lives back then, while I did a fist pump that my goal to potty train Blake got accomplished ;) haha. It was so fun we decided to put it all back in the capsule box and wait another 5 years to open it again!

After all sharing our requests for 2016 (including every kid who writes out their own list) we put them in a jar, stood and agreed in prayer together over them, and then went for a second round of pizza and cheesecake :) 

I am thankful for long-lasting traditions and a family who loves Jesus... every single one.

(Last year's recap.)

The Return of InstaFriday {The Friday Photo Dump}

I love instagram... it's by far my favorite form of social media (compared to facebook, pinterest, & twitter). I hear more and more about snapchat these days and it's possible I would like that best if I would actually try it out, but i'm secretly afraid to.

I ain't hip and young no mo'!

I'll probably cave eventually though. I mean, I finally joined twitter last year, and that's been around since 2006 so... I've got time! But back to instagram, I like to end the week recapping what's been going on lately, according to our life on instagram. Let's do this!

By lately I mean a while back because this picture of my best friend Jana and I was from our annual Christmas outfit shopping trip at the start of Christmas break. We like to go shopping for ourselves after finishing all the Christmas present shopping, because it's always fun to have something new and cute to wear for holiday festivities. Kind of a Christmas-themed "treat yo' self" day. We've been doing this for 6 years now!

We also exchange Christmas gifts and this year we managed to gift each other the exact same thing... a gel manicure certificate, which just cracked us up. 

I love best friends.

Also over the break I went out to breakfast with some blogging friends at Gather in Silverton, Oregon, this cute & trendy little breakfast/brunch spot in town. 

I had the pear and brie stuffed french toast with eggs & potatoes and it was AMAAAAAZING! If you live locally, get yourself to Gather and try it out. 

This is my brother, Jamin. I ran into him while grocery shopping at Costco and even though we see each other almost weekly, this spot seemed like a good place for a visit so we stood here blocking the coconut water for 20 minutes. Then I told him I needed to take a picture to show Russ that "see, men shop at Costco all the time!" (He's still not convinced. #goals.)

And last but not least... I got my first ever hate note left on my front window in the Kaiser hospital parking garage! Russ was with me and I'm sorry to say we felt no remorse when we saw it but laughed hysterically instead, that someone actually took the time to get a piece of paper out and leave us that when every third car in the parking garage is not a compact, and no one really pays attention to those spots, do they? I'll just go ahead and answer that for you: no they do not. If you've ever had to find a spot in that garage and try to get to an appointment in time you know, YOU TAKE WHAT YOU CAN GET. 

It pretty much made my day, I love a good laugh.  And I love Fridays too! Happy weekend :)

How we did the holidays {A belated Christmas & New Years Recap}

Because, you know, it's almost the middle of January. I like to be prompt about these things.

Christmas already seems so long ago. Perhaps because I spent 4 hours yesterday evening helping my 7th grader work on his science project research paper and in actuality it felt like 4 years.

Cooper's face says it all...

Thankfully he completed it and I don't have to think about MLA format and proper citations any longer and we can pretend that we didn't spend our evening at loggerheads because all 7th graders think they know everything. 

So. Our Christmas celebrations started at home Christmas morning opening presents with our kids in our pajamas. 

Just a tad bleary-eyed! It was the perfect morning... slow and savored. After presents and a big breakfast, the kids played with their new stuff while I cooked for our Christmas dinner at my in-laws, where we went to spend the rest of the day doing Halverson Christmas!

So much fun. So much mayhem :) We stayed all day, eating and watching movies till late. And then the next morning, we started all over again at my parents house for Wilson Christmas!

My favorite moment of the day: surprising Mum with a puppy! She had wanted this particular little girl from Miley's litter but my dad had said no, and then bought her as a surprise with the help of us kids behind Mum's back. Mum thought she'd been sold to someone else and had no idea we kept her all the way till Christmas! The surprise worked PERFECT.

{Welcome to the family, Bailey!}

Excited about my most-desired Christmas wish... a fire poker set with handles and heads that wonn't constantly loosen and fall off! Yeaaahhh!

After two straight days celebrating Christmas, this was the aftermath. We stayed home all day and slowly but surely got everything put away and cleaned up. 

And then we celebrated New Year's like we do every year, leaving our kids home and having a game night with friends at my brother and sister-in-law's. 

From the very bottom of my heart, I'd like to wish you an extremely belated happy new year - hehehe :) 

What I Wore... in 2016!

I probably made that title seem more exciting than it is. I just can't believe it's a brand new year already!
 Here's what I've worn so far (that I've taken a picture of.)
(Honestly, there's already been a lot of sweatpants and turtlenecks and wool socks that may or may not match.)

No. 1

Maurice's denim shirt, Costco sweater & leggings, Claire's necklace, Old Navy shirt, Matisse boots

No. 2 

Ross sweater, Old Navy tank top, Maurice's jeans, Ugg boots

No. 3 

Old Navy shirt and vest, Eddie Bauer jeans, Matisse boots, scarf knitted by me 

Happy Wednesday and hey, happy new year!

Oh Christmas Break, Oh Christmas Break...

...how lovely are your lazy days.

Today was supposed to be the first day back in the real world (kids back to school, etc.) but we had some snow and then some freezing rain and everything became a sheet of ice so as luck would have it, we got one extra day of Christmas break... weeee!

And it's a good thing because my Christmas break puzzle wasn't finished yet. PRIORITIES.

I also haven't done any kind of holiday recap yet and feel like something needs to be recorded, if for nothing else than the sake of not wasting all the energy I spent taking trillions of pictures. So it's going to happen! But maybe later this week, because first I need to record the madness that was our Christmas break.

For starters, my mother-in-law was hit by a car while walking across the street, just two days before Christmas, and landed herself in the ICU overnight with bleeding on the brain. NOT SCARY AT ALL. God's hand of protection was on her though and not only did she not break a single bone, but she was able to come home for Christmas day and spend it with us all. Truly miraculous.

{my mother-in-law with her two boys}

Then Kendall got sick and after a Christmas Eve doctor visit she had some really weird reactions to the medicine she was put on and it was rather stressful, for her and for us. And lastly, after every single member of our family came down with a head cold, Cooper went and got strep throat and we spent the day after New Years at urgent care. With what appeared to be everyone else in the greater Portland area.

{Sure, they look angelic now. YOU try sitting with them for an hour and a half in a waiting room.}

But overall, Christmas break has still been a wonderful time! HA. I really do mean it. We are all on the mend and have enjoyed hours upon hours of Psych marathons on Netflix, besides playing board games, reading, hanging out with family and friends, and oh, I finally finished Gilmore Girls! A miracle!

And then of course Sherlock AND Downton Abbey started up again, I finger-knitted two scarves, clocked some serious hours in front of the fireplace, and generally felt like I could live like this till summer.

{Finished in one hour. Boom.}

And today... I finished my puzzle :) So bring it on, real world.