Thanksgiving...Break?

This is a blog I started writing in the beginning of January and I have been avoiding blogging because I haven't finished it so ... I'm just gonna post it as is with what I have written and then just give some pictures at the end. I just need to get over this blogging block :)

This year was the first Thanksgiving of our married life. I think that most people probably wait a few years before jumping behind the wheel of cooking a Thanksgiving dinner when they first get married. Not us, apparently :D. We thought it would be a good idea to get our "first Thanksgiving cooking disaster" out of the way early. But guess what!? It wasn't a complete disaster!!!!

Since everyone in the family kind of had their own thing to do on the actual day of Thanksgiving, we decided to have our Thanksgiving meal on the Saturday after. Kyle's mom, Saundra, is unfortunately snowed-in up in Minot, North Dakota; and his sister, Shelby, is with her husband, who is stationed in 29 Palms, CA. His other two sisters, Ashley and Amanda, and their significant others, Mark and Joey, were able to come down to my mom's house for Saturday. Also in attendance were my brother, Kevan, and his wife, Shellye, and my two nieces, Kami and Brook.

PICTURES!!!!

My cousin Dakota with our fried turkey that we had at Thanksgiving

My wonderful pumpkin spice cupcakes which I will be posting the recipe for later :)

Kami and Brook having just a little too much fun at Tom Thumb shopping for Thanksgiving groceries.

Just having fun with my favorite girls

Update

To fulfill one of my Old Year's Resolutions: here's a new blog...my second in the span of a week!!!

I just thought I should give a little update to the progress of my resolutions and steps I am taking in the right direction...no matter how little they may be.

1. I really want to find the perfect church and become active in it.

This week: Shady Oaks Baptist Church

Update: I worked Saturday night and was living on the prayer of a cancel for my Sunday shift. Even with the odds stacked against me, I came home, made some lemon poppyseed muffins, and Kyle and I went to sunday school and church. Now...we have visited a few churches in the span of our relationship, and have found good things about all of them. I had a thought that maybe after a fourteen hour shift was not the best time to assess a church's ability to keep my attention. That in mind, we visited my home church, where my mother still goes, and where I believe my membership still lies. I really wanted this Sunday to be more about just getting our feet wet in church again. It was a good experience overall, and I really hope to continue our journey for the perfect church.

2. I would like to lose 10 pounds.

Motivational picture of the week: I swear I used to look like this.

Update: I started my new diet (if that's what you want to call it) yesterday. I have a really neat app for my iPhone that I downloaded some time ago called MyFitnessPal to help me track my calories. It has a listing for every food imaginable and it is really easy to search for what you are eating. You can see how many calories you have eaten, and how many calories you have to go. I am trying to stay under 1500 calories a day. I plan to do a blog maybe next week about "pretending." Like how I pretend that my Chocolate Drizzle Special K Cereal Bar is really a Milky Way. It should be interesting. I'm also struggling with this whole "drink water until you drown" thing. I love Diet Coke and it will probably be the hardest thing for me to give up. I think it will happen eventually.

3. I want to spread contagious joy.

What's more joyful than a smiling Paigey on a dinosaur?

Update: According to Greta, in my comments section from the last post, ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED! :) Haha. But seriously, I have been trying to be better about this. I think that positivity is something that has lacked a little bit in my life lately and am attempting to amp it up. I feel like I have made strides towards being a more joyful person.

4. I want to be a devoted blogger.

Update: Blogging now. Boomshakalaka.

5. I want to be awake more.

Update: Yesterday I woke up at 6 AM when Kyle had to wake up to get ready for work. I cooked him some delicious breakfast burritos, walked him to the door to say goodbye, and gave him a hug and kiss (just like Leave it to Beaver). This is the point where I would normally just go lay back down in bed a few more hours. Instead, I stayed up ALL DAY!!! No nap, no mid-morning dozing, NOTHING. This is probably my greatest accomplishment this week, because my awake time allowed me to do a lot of things I have been wanting to do for a while. I treated and vacuumed the entire carpet staircase, I organized my desk and office shelves, I deep cleaned the kitchen, and I did a billion loads of laundry. Ok, not a billion, more like three. It felt really good to get some things done instead of just sitting around watching Netflix. I'm going to try to stay awake like this on all my days off this week, and also try to not sleep away the entire day that I work.

I really feel like all of my goals here are intertwined. If I do one, then another follows, which causes another one, etc. Thank you to all my friends who support me in my goals, no matter silly or serious.

Old Year's Resolutions?

I know...it has been way too long, but unlike all you other little bloggers, I do not have cute kids to take pictures of and share funny things they have said. These are the things I love to read about in your blogs, and so sometimes I feel a little inadequate as a blogger, in general. But today is a new day, and a new beginning. I know its not January 1, but I would like to set some goals for myself that I would like to accomplish before the end of the year: let's call it old year's resolutions? Sure.

Things I would like to do before the end of the year:

1. I really want to find the perfect church and become active in it.

Since Kyle and I have gotten married, we have really enjoyed our weekends together. We get to sleep in, lounge around, and just enjoy our day. Unfortunately, we have gotten so spoiled by staying up late on Saturday night that Sunday mornings have been a difficult time for both of us to get up and going. I really miss being in an active Christian body, and even if it means Saturday afternoon church, I want this back.

2. I would like to lose 10 pounds. That's all. Come on people it is already November 5th.

10 pounds divided by 8 weeks. Thats totally doable...right?

3. I want to spread contagious joy.

This is something that I have found is missing in a lot of places. It is pretty easy to make someone's day with a little bit of happiness. While I have never really understood the point of dragging other people down with bad moods, I have been not so altogether encouraging lately. I think if we do a little work on #1 up there, #3 should follow :)

4. I want to be a devoted blogger.

Let's just call devoted one blog a week, ok? Start small.

5. I want to be awake more.

I don't want to sleep through my life, and working nights it seems like I do that a little bit. I would like to think of sleep more as a luxury and not a necessity. Right now I feel sometimes like it is taking over my social life.

So there you have it. 5 things I want to accomplish before the end of this year. I will (hopefully, if number 4 works out) be keeping you updated on my progress with these things. In the meantime, you guys can try to keep me accountable.