Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Crossing number 8 off my list!

 I made a list (here) of places I want to go see in Oregon in 2012. Mount Pisgah was #8! 

(Picture Alert by the way!! Breanna has recently introduced me to Picnik.  My sister-in-law, Kerrie told me about it a while back but I just thought editing pictures took too long but I LOVE it now!!! I'm addicted! (I may have gone a little overboard here) If I remember correctly, these are the first pictures I've EVER edited!!  If you haven't checked out Picnik before you should! It's free...but the bad thing is that it will not longer be available after April 19th.)
 Mount Pisgah is just a place to hike. There are lots of trails.  We hiked probably 3 miles or so but most of it had gravel.  Deci hiked the whole way.  I was so proud of her.  The view was beautiful!
    
 Check out the moss on this tree!



My favorite picture and favorite edit: 1960's! :)









This was such a fun day! I can't wait to take Alabama visitors here.

Monday, January 30, 2012

Marriage Letters: let's just be honest

Join me along with my Husband Q, and Amber @The Run a Muck, as we work hard to preserve marriage by writing marriage letters. There may be only a handful of us doing it, but if you’ve written a letter or a post for your spouse, link up on The Run a Muck and leave me a comment here.  I would love to hear your story.
Q,
   Let's just be honest, life is hard sometimes. You know me, and know that I paint the picture like it really is...I wear my heart on my sleeve, which is not always a good thing. I know I'm hard to love sometimes. I'm extremely selfish, and I know in a relationship I need to put you first. I find this a battle within, like Saturday when I turned down the radio when you were "singing"...even though I swear I didn't hear you. I just hated the song you so happened to love.  Sometimes we are polar opposites.  Sometimes we fight...argue... bicker.. have disagreements in front of other people because I can't hold my tongue and you love a good debate. ;)  I need to work on that...


Me pregnant with baby #2 :)
  Let's be honest, everyone said that marriage was hard. We got married and thought "wow, this is easy." I think it's about expectations.  We expected it to be harder. Maybe it was that we dated 7 years...or was it 8...I lost count.  Dating was what was so hard.  It isn't always easy now but we make it work.

  On the other hand, it seems that I kept hearing people talk about the joys of parenthood. Parenthood is H-A-R-D!  I will never forget those first few weeks/months after having Deci.  I'm not sure how much of it was us not knowing what we were doing or having a colicky/acid reflux/strong-willed baby... but we made it! We even had child number 2!  Let's be honest, having kids is a roller coaster ride, some days we want to get off and some days we can't get enough.  It's challenging and rewarding.  My favorite thing is Saturday mornings when you don't have to work and we all end up in our bed early in the morning. (Except this past Saturday when clearly we needed more sleep.  Why didn't the girls get the memo?)

   We are making it babe, living life 2,000+ miles away from Sweet Home Alabama....away from life as we knew it....away from friends and family....  We knew this would be hard and it is, but I am SO glad that I'm here with you!

                                                                                                                          -A

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Why I blog.


      This is my life on paper. 23 Journals here and I'm missing one.  I know this because it's my very first one. It's got to be around here somewhere.  It's small so it's likely that it didn't make it on the bookshelf but maybe in a drawer or box somewhere.  I started my first Journal in 1993 if I remember correctly.  I was 11 years old.   Some of these Journals are just horrible poetry. Some are mission trip journals. Two of them are more like scrapbooks with mostly writing but with pictures. I also have a pregnancy Journal and  2 "Mama" Journals answering questions about each of my girls and my life growing up. I love looking back on life. So, if you haven't guessed yet, (1) I blog because I want to be able to look back on life. It's my new Journal...in a weird public kind of way.  Also I'm living 2,000+ miles away from almost everyone I grew up with.  (2) Blogging is a cool way to let friends and family back in Alabama know whats going on here in Oregon with the Williams family. (3) It's my new "hobby".  What else do you do when you move from a place where you knew a million people (not literally) to a place where you only know 10 people? Ha! Get out there and meet people, right? Yeah... well, also I'm enjoying my girls being at an age where I can blog.  I remember having a 3-year-old and a newborn and wondering how in the world anyone with kids EVER blogs! Things are calming down now and I LIKE it, a lot! :) 
       So, been wonderin' why I've been posting on my blog almost every single day lately? Well, there ya go! Recording life online for ME and YOU! (and the fact that my mom's been here helping with the girls so I have extra help... and my little secret: I'm writing this post on Thursday night while the kids are in bed...but you won't see it until Saturday. But if you see things slow down it may be because mom is leaving in the morning (Friday)...which was yesterday...If that makes since...) Whew, ok so that last part was confusing. I think I need sleep! Thanks for reading my blog! Friends, family, strangers...  I hope you enjoy!

Friday, January 27, 2012

A week review, in pictures

We, well actually Breanna, found this backpack/carrier at GoodWill for $14.99. I've been looking for one to carry Journey so that we can take the kids hiking with us. It reminds me of the one we had growing up. I don't remember sitting in it but I remember Kyle, my younger brother, riding in it a lot.  Journey didn't care for it much.



Our friends, Josh and Marcie, got this dress from Mexico for Deci when she was little. While watching the movie "We Bought a Zoo" I saw the little girl wearing a dress similar to this but in yellow.




This is Deci's "Pippi Longstocking outfit" that she picked out to wear to school yesterday.



Mom and I took the girls to the park. One of the good things about having mom around is that I"M IN PICTURES!! :) haha! If you're a mom you know what I mean! I end up taking all the pictures and look back and wonder if I even went on vacation! ha!



Thursday, January 26, 2012

Pinterest Rings!

 My mom brought a craft to do with Deci. She found this cute ring craft on Pinterest. They were so fun to make and very easy. Just start saving the top/closure pieces (not sure what these are called) from orange juice cartons.  Then find cute things to put on top. Then glue away! We used a hot glue gun.

I thought they turned out really cute.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Pigtails

I LOVE Pigtails on little girls! And I love that I randomly have pictures of both of my girls when they wore pigtails for the first time. Below is Breanna and Deci. Yes, that blond hair teenager fixing Deci's hair is the same dark hair Breanna that lives with us. :) We spent the afternoon with some friends at Cherokee Rock Village and Breanna wanted to fix Deci's hair. I'm not sure why I had never thought to put Deci's hair up in pigtails before but this started a trend. I still love Deci's hair in pigtails but she rarely lets me put her hair up these days.


 Yesterday I was holding Journey and playing with her afro hair and realized it could go up in pigtails!! It took me and my mom to accomplish getting her hair up and entertaining her with my phone to actually get these pictures.  Her hair was up no more than 2 minutes before she figured out she could pull them out and I doubt she will let me put them in again but look how cute!

Notice it took both of these girls playing with cell phones, which I rarely let them play with, to hold their attention long enough to get their hair up!




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Recent thrift store finds.

Minnetonka Moccasins for Deci. The price tag says 3.99 but they were 1/2 off so I got them for $2!!! :)

This is random but I wanted to share because I'm addicted a little bit to thrift store shopping. I once counted around 12 thrift stores about 10 miles (or less) from our house. Since we've been in Eugene I've only bought myself one shirt (that I can remember) from a chain type store.  Not bragging on myself here but bragging on Oregon for having the coolest thrift stores around. I do most of our families clothes shopping at second hand stores.  I found this purse below for $12.99 and it was 25% off!

liz&co.
For some reason in this picture it looks more yellow than gold...it's more of a mustard yellow/Gold color.  Also I got this coat at a thrift store a few months back.   To find out more about this picture, check out my friend Breanna's blog.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Marriage Letters: Q and A

One of my favorite blogs is The Run a Muck. Her name is Amber. Erin, her sister, and I were college roommates for one semester at The University of North Alabama. Amber and her husband Seth have started writing Marriage letters on Mondays and encouraging others to do the same.  I LOVE the idea. So today, since it's Monday, I thought I would join.

Q,
          Wow, where do I start...  maybe just saying that I love you.  I really do. What a wild a crazy (almost) 15 years we've been together. I can't believe I met you at 15.  I remember holding your hand while we were having "prayer around the poll" and thinking that I wanted to marry a man like you. I actually wrote it in my journal. I don't think that at 15 I really knew that I wanted to marry you. I know that because we started dating when we were both very immature we had a rocky start but it makes our story and I love that.  I love that you chose me. I love that through our hard times we learned what true love really is. I love that I can trust you 100%. You provide me and our family security. I know our relationship isn't perfect but I do know that our love is real. You are my best friend. I can tell you anything. I'm quirky most days and sometimes I get tired of being around people but you are my constant. I can't be around you enough. Yeah, you get on my nerves sometimes but I still want you near.  Oh and I do need breaks from you occasionally but I always am excited about getting back to you.  I love the father you are to our two girls. I love that you like taking them to work with you and on daddy/daughter dates. Thanks for putting up with me. Thanks for constant love even when I'm not so lovable. Thanks for listening to God and leading our family where He has called us. That is the man I fell in love with and the man I'm still in love with today. The man that follows God's voice.
   -A

Date Day

Since my mom has been in town, Q and I took a whole day to go on a date. We started the day by touring a church then we went to lunch at Agate Alley Bistro which was so YUMMY! Then we went to eat frozen yogurt. Next we went to the movies to watch "We Bought a Zoo." Which was so good! One of my favorite movies I've seen in a while.  It has just encouraged me and Q both to make sure we are having adventures with our family.  We decided we needed a little adventure of our own that day so went out in the rain and mud and "hiked" Skinners Butte. I say hike but it wasn't much of a hike... but what is considered a hike after all?? A walk in the woods? well, we did that. Is there a number of miles you must go? Well, we didn't go far and it didn't feel much like a hike but we were in the woods. We went a little overboard on our date but we had to take advantage while we had someone that wouldn't care to keep the kids all day. It's been nice having my mom here to help with the girls. Especially so Q and I can go out.  We have people here that help us with the girls but it feels less like a sacrifice when it's the grandparents keeping them.  Here are a few pictures of our "adventure".

Skinner's Butte


Eugene, Oregon



U of O Autzen Stadium