The Resolutionless New Years

Happy new year! This year neither Michael nor I made resolutions. Instead, we made it a goal to try to better ourselves throughout the year and be better people at the end than we were at the beginning. As Michael said, there's no point in making a new year's resolution if you don't lead that kind of lifestyle to begin with. So this year we're going to be more generous, as well as more conscious of our spending. We want to love others as Christ loves them, and be deliberate in our actions. We have tried to that this last year, but want to be even more intentional and deliberate in our actions this year. We want it to become a lifestyle, not just a resolution that we make one day and break the next.
Oh, and just a side note, I must say I am a bit annoyed at the fact that it's been too warm that we couldn't go snowshoeing yesterday. We would have had to drive all the way up near the resorts, which we didn't want to do! Who would have thought I'd be annoyed by warm weather??

Happy Belated Independence Day!

Happy (belated) 4th of July! This year was fun-- especially when you have smoked ribs, delicious potatoes, and fresh berry trifle to top off your night! We went to the Glendale fireworks, as is tradition, and they were as great as ever. I had invited friends to come along and had raved about how amazingly awesome these fireworks are... so I was a bit nervous that they would let me down... alas, they did not! We were literally right underneath them and they lasted for about 30 minutes! Thirty minutes of pure, mind-blowing, fire-power! And the end/finale, as my wonderful husband said, was like being inside a kaleidoscope! It was awesome! I love fireworks! I love friends, and family, and everything that goes into the 4th of July. But fireworks definitely make it even more worth while!
P.S. I also need to give a belated "shout-out" to my Marine boys. Some are getting out of the Marines for good in about a month, others are in Afghanistan, and others are just beginning! Thanks, guys, for everything you do! I love you all!

"This is Kate. How May I Help You?"

You'll never guess where I am... I'm at my new job!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally, after 5 months of looking, sending out resumes and cover letters, and having to take a job at Barnes and Noble to make a little money, I have a full-time job; real, 8-5, real-world job!! I am an administrative assistant at an oil and gas drilling company that drills all over the place. Yes, I know my degree is in human development and family studies, but the jobs that go along with that aren't hiring and don't pay diddly-squat! Eventually when Michael finishes his degree (oh, by the way, he's going back to school in 2 weeks!!!) and makes a lot of money, I can persue something more along the lines of what my degree and interests are in.
But for now I'm surrounded by maps of things I have no clue what they represent or where the hell they even are. A very nice co-worker of mine sat me down and explained a little bit of what they do and what the different symbols and terminology means. Even still... now I can look at the maps and say "that one I think maybe might mean it's a working oil well." Where the maps are showing, I'm still clueless. I'm sure I'll learn more, since this is only my second day. So if you need an excuse to celebrate (since Cinco de Mayo is over [side note, I live right by Federal Blvd, a street notorious for being absolutely insane for cinco de mayo, and I'm happy to say there were no issues around our house! Yay!]), celebrate new jobs and new beginnings! Anyone else celebrating new beginnings? I'm totally willing to celebrate on behalf of you too! Share away!

The Happenings of Thanksgiving Week

I just got back to school from a week-long Thanksgiving break. It was wonderful, even with the few family drama issues! At the beginning, me, my sister, her roommate who stayed with us all week, and Michael went to the Denver Film Festival. My dad prints their programs so we got ticket vouchers to go see a movie. We had a blast (after we wandered around trying to find the theater)! We went out to dinner and then went to the movie, all dressed up and feeling hott! The movie was about a grandma who finds a job working at a sex-shop to earn money to pay for her grandson's much-needed medical treatment. It was awkward at times (as you can imagine), but really well done! We all enjoyed it-- you can't go wrong with a great character-development movie ;-) (My sister and I are in the middle... her roommate is on the left, and Michael (obviously) is on the right)
I then spent the week hanging out with my parents and my sister and her roommate. We chatted, watched movies, helped cook, went grocery shopping... the time flew!
Thanksgiving came and we had some long-time family friends over for dinner. We had delicious turkey (and that's a lot for me to say since I'm not a big fan of turkey-- I'd rather have ham any day) and all the "usual" side dishes. But when it's "usual" it means my mom found an even better recipe that melts in your mouth! We then spent the evening playing card games which actually ended up being evenly scored (GO me and Brittany!)! (In the picture-- (left to right: me, Michael, Ali, Taryn, Brittany, and Jill)
It's a lifelong tradition of our family to trek out like the Griswolds and cut down our Christmas tree. Thankfully we have always remembered our saw ;-) This year, however, my sister and I managed to lose our parents in the forest. While we were picking up pine cones and putting them in each other's hood (while laughing uncontrollably!) we thought we were following our parents' tree-dragging trail. Well, when we got to the car and my parents were not there, we realized we'd followed the wrong tree line (except that we ended up by our car... weird). Our parents finally walked up--even after we went searching for them in the forest and still ended up at the car again-- thankful that their dread of my sister and I sitting in the snow crying and hungry, being nibbled on by a bear was not true. We (being my dad) tied up the tree to the top of the car and we drove to the volunteer fire station that we go to every year to get some hot chocolate. While we were there, Mrs. Claus dragged our whole family over to Santa Claus' lap to take a picture! (I have a confession-- that was the first time I've ever sat on Santa's lap in my entire life! I've always been terrified of Santa so my sister and I never went near him!) As we were waiting for our picture to develop we read an article about this particular Santa and how he is the real deal. Thirteen years ago, he heard about families who were not going to have a real Christmas because they didn't have enough money. So, on Christmas morning, he dressed up in a Santa suit and went and took presents to the families. He paid for it out of his own pocket and continues to do it every year! What an awesome example of what one man can do to impact other people's lives!!
So other than that, I just relaxed and spent some quality time with my family. Oh, and we finally found a wedding venue location!!! YAY! We're all super-excited about it! Anyway, I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I thought I'd end this with a brief list of what I'm thankful for this year:
- Loyal friends
- Love of friends and family
- My sister (and the fact that she's up at CSU with me)
- Michael
- Making a real difference
- God working in my life
- TV shows... my guilty pleasure ;-)
- Movies... another guilty pleasure...
- Ice cream... my absolute guilty pleasure!
- The blessing my aunt gives my sister and I every month
- The safety of my Marine boys
- Change, even though it's really hard
- The endless possibilities for my future
- Sunsets
- And the everyday blessings God gives me!

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!

The best Halloween EVER!

I'm sitting here, my mind is a complete blank. I have just finished giving a 2-hour presentation for my senior seminar class. I have spent at least 15 hours outside of class working on this project, as well as spending a majority of the semester learning about said project. I have written a 4-page research paper, to go along with the project. We also had to write a grant presentation-- complete with cover letter, sub-headings, a budget, an appendix, and over 60 references in our bibliograpgy... needless to say, I'm wiped! But now it is done! I can go home and relax and not have to worry about it ever again! And now I can actually have a life!I don't think I've hung out with anyone for the last 2 or 3 weeks because every waking moment was consumed by this stupid project! So friends, I have not forgotten about you... Now on to normal life! Everyone celebrate in my honor! (Hey, it's an excuse to have a party!) And it's halloween today! Chocolate here I come! Oh, and a Rio margarita! ;-) Happy Halloween, everyone!

Happy 4th of July!

Today is the 4th of July-- Independence Day! This post is in honor of my friends who are serving our country! I got to talk to one of them who is deployed in Iraq :-) Thank for all you guys have done and will do! I'm counting down the days till you all can come home!

Here's to you, guys!

Our adopted boys (Hall and Ambrose [center and right]) with Hardwick and my sister!

Hardwick

Matt

All of my boys (this pic is 3 years old)!
Brandon, Hardwick, Kevin, Matt, James, Wes

Happy Early Easter!

I wont have time to post this this weekend so I thought I'd wish everyone a very happy (or would it be hoppy?) Easter!! (and I guess a Merry Christmas in April!)

Shadows Predict the Future

Happy Groundhog Day! I had a discussion with one of my roommates this morning about who originally had the idea for watching a little rodent-like animal crawl out of the ground on a random day and ask it to predict the future by looking for it's shadow. I think alcohol was definitely involved! Anyway, I saw on my little news post on my homepage-- that's how I get my news... who reads newspapers anymore?-- that the groundhog didn't see it's shadow so spring is coming early this year! For once I hope that stupid rodent is right! I am really tired of this cold and snow. It was 0 degrees outside this morning when I got up! No good! But seriously, of all the animals... why a groundhog?