New years eve in "Little Bavaria"

Kurt and I took a little 5 hour drve north to Frankenmuth, Michigan for New Year's weekend to have a little time to ourselves and try to relax. We enjoyed our stay at the Bavarian Lodge, ate at Oma's resturant, as well as the Frankenmuth Brewery and shopped at all of the cute little places along main street including the Frankenmuth Cheese Haus.

One of the most exciting things for me was to go to Bronner's Christmas store. It is a HUGE Christmas store that is open all year. My grandma had taken us there when I was six. It wasn't quite as exciting as I remember, but I did get Oscar a few new ornaments for his tree!

Well well well...

Look what the cat dragged in! A blog post! It's about time!!!

This family has been plagued with migraines and the flu...
and then there were a few snow storms mixed in there...
and some late nights and weekends that had to be worked.

 Those all sound like excuses, and well...they are, but I'm back and I'm going to try and get things back on track.

Kurt and Caiden...twinsies!! I took this picture at the church. Kurt was helping prepare food for a fellowship and Caiden insisted on helping. Since Uncle Kurt took off his tie and jacket, Caiden wanted to do the same thing...and I just thought that they were too cute not to capture the moment!! This is one I will show his girlfriends in the future (Caiden's, not Kurt's!) :)

On a break...

...until further notice!!

My top 11 of 2011

As I look back on 2011, I can honestly say that I am glad to see it go! This year was tough to say the least. I know that in my "Best of 2010" post, last year, I said that the year had been rocky, and I hoped that 2011 would be better...well baby,  I had NO IDEA how rocky life could get!!

For 2012 I'm just praying faith, our families and for our health, as that was quite an issue this year!

Oh yes...and to find happiness in the small things in life, because that's what is what helped me get through all this mess this year. And so, without further ado...

My top 11 of 2011 (in no particular order...the little things!):

1. Snow...I love snow, even though this blizzard was a lot!!

2. Our house! Finally, a place to call our own!

3. My Nutso Dogs!! I don't know where I would be without these 2 lunatics in my life!

4. Caiden and Kyle, 2011 brought the absolute privilege of getting to know these 2 guys and being their aunt. I could not be more blessed!

5. Aron and Jason...2011 meant that my "baby J," turned 5...ugh where does the time go? Living 800 miles away does not get any easier as the years pass! I miss them every day!

6. Becoming more active on my blog and etsy shop shop! If I could only make a living at this crafting thing!



7. My best friend has a baby! Holy cow, that still shocks me!! Avery Mason, you are so loved, baby girl!!

8. A little family fun..haha

9. I think this picture speaks for itself!

10. Our 2 year anniversary.

11. Mini NYE vacation to Frankenmuth, Michigan...more pics to follow. Wahoo!

Happy Happy Happy

And Happy New Year to the rest of you!! Now excuse me while I edit some pics from our little New Years Vaca, so that I can post them on here! Just wait, you are going to LOVE them!

Weiner Dogs on Wednesday

This picture was taken on Oscar's first Christmas, in 2009. He was six months old.

My my how times have changed! Not only do we have 2 pups now, but they only got a few toys each (instead of a BUCKET FULL!) and I didn't even bother taking ONE picture of them :)

Santa Baby!

So I'm curious to know what Santa brought for all of you!!! Do you let your husband's pick out your gifts, or like me...do you leave VERY specific lists?

Kurt and I had agreed to keep Christmas gifts pretty simple this year, so I had asked for socks, glue gun sticks, and a little dremel tool. Kurt wanted underwear, t shirts, and K-cup coffee. We are SO exciting around here!

I am SOO happy to have my little dremel tool...I can't wait to try it out on all of my little projects! I didn't even know which one I wanted or which accessories I wanted, but this is the one he picked out:

I don't even know what all those little bits and pieces do yet!! Can't wait!!

He also surprised me with something! We saw these babies in a store window a few weeks ago and I mentioned that I liked them! I bought another pair of emu boots the day before our wedding because it was unseasonably cold, and I had planned to wear sandals, so I ended up those instead...and they are WORN OUT!!! I love emus more than Uggs believe it or not!  So now I have these:

And last but not least, I am so fortunate to have a crafty mother-in-law! I have been eyeballing one of these FOR-EV-ER!!! Mom-in-law has one, and it rocks!! It is awesome for card making, scrapbooking, cutting vinyl, stencils, Sunday school projects, lettering, etc etc etc....Yahoo....I have a Cricut of my own now!!