Wednesday, July 28, 2010

wordless wednesday

one of my all time favorite pictures of em,
camping at 11 mile reservoir in colorado, 3yrs old

happy wednesday,
a


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

unredeemed...

there isn't one of us that doesn't know somebody that is hurting.  there are so many people in my life that are struggling with something that they never saw coming that my days lately have been filled with prayer more than they ever have before.  i find myself pleading with God on behalf of these people.  that the hurting will be redeemed, that the pain will be filled with His peace and that every gaping hole will be filled with Him; the cruelest word losing it's power and being forgotten.

the promises that we have in Him can never be changed or taken away... not by anybody.

"to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"
Isaiah 61:3


(pause music at bottom of page)

the man that is singing (todd smith), his wife writes an amazing blog.  "bring the rain" on my sidebar.

happy wednesday!
a

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

wordless wednesday




recent camping pictures.
i had to post something, i'm such a blog slacker... loving summer is all!

happy wednesday!
a

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

ten

emily going to swim team every morning reminds me so much of being younger.

my hair is long overdue for color and i am so happy i have an appointment today!

i love that nick isn't much taller than me... my neck is messed up from a car accident.  reaching up to kiss him would only cause me pain :)

i had strep throat.  i started meds on sunday and feel a ton better, but not awesome.  stinks.

my brother makes the best salsa and we are addicted.

we went camping last weekend and it was a bit like a griswold camping trip.  i will post about it later.

ethan is obsessed with writing his name and "mom", along with copying anything that he can.  i love it.  except when he writes his name all over his bedroom door with dark pink permanent marker.  i now have "re-paint ethan's bedroom door" on my to-do list.

summer movies with lots of our friends make us happy.

i watch the bachelorette.  my money's on frank. or ty. or roberto. although i haven't watched the show from this week and don't know if they're still on.

i am in the process of redecorating the kids bathroom.  i have never liked it.  blech.

happy wednesday!
a

Thursday, May 27, 2010

thank you third grade...

i am a wreck.  my baby (even though she is my eldest she will always be my baby) is finished with third grade today.  it feels like just yesterday that i was panicking about her going to kindergarten.  i spent the weeks before trying to do everything that i wanted to do with her before she started school.  i had always heard that once your kids go to school time flies even faster.  it's the beginning of "growing up".  i tend to get really sad and nostalgic on days like this... the days before school starts, the days before school ends.  it's not that i have a reason to be so sad.  i'm a very involved mom.  i am always present.  i spend a ton of time with my kids and i don't live a life of regret.  i think that a milestone like this only makes the passing of time more evident.  it's easy to get caught in the hustle and bustle of homework and reading goals and school projects and functions and sometimes the days seem to drag on.  sometimes all i want is a weekend or a break... fall break, christmas break, spring break, a random monday off here and there.  it's hard to believe that another year of dragging days and breaks has gone by.  i will probably never stop saying that time flies.  when i'm watching my children and their children graduate high school, get married, become parents... time will still be flying.

em has grown so much this year.  her teacher didn't only teach math facts and spelling, he taught them how to be better, more responsible people.  we are so thankful for the wonderful experience that third grade has been for our entire family.

the days are long but the years are short

happy thursday!
a

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

wordless wednesday

just love her

could it get any cuter!?

her teacher is in the light blue shirt, front of the line

on the eve of em's last day of third grade i thought it fitting to post pics of her on the first day of third grade :)
where did the year go?

happy wednesday!
a

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

wordless wednesday


nick and i dressed as woody and jessie from toy story for our friend's famous couples party.
yeehaw!

happy wednesday!
a (aka jessie)

Monday, May 17, 2010

i...

i am...
happy
sore from running stairs in bootcamp (don't ever run stairs on your tippy toes)
forgiving
creative
simple... i like the little things and i'm easy to please

i love...
rainy days
sweet tea
chips and guacamole
crafting
driving through the mountains with the windows down and the music turned up

i don't like...
classic rock
complaining
sushi
jealous people
changing the sheets

i am looking forward to...
taking the kids to west point and nyc in the fall
emily's swim meets
sitting on the porch with nick when we are older
calling dave ramsey in a few months and yelling "we're debt free"
camping

i wish...
people were kinder
i could hug my uncle lee one more time
my kids didn't argue
i had a little fairy to come change the sheets
dr pepper was good for you

i hope...
my kids know their value
the tomatoes i'm growing are good this summer
i give more than i take
my kids know that things do not matter or make you happy
em isn't too devastated on the last day of school, she wants her teacher to move to 4th grade with her

happy monday!
a

Monday, May 10, 2010

the post in which i boast a bit...

i'm not usually one to boast, but i am one proud mama right now. here's why...
at the beginning of the semester a new girl (let's call her "c") came to em's school and was put in em's class.  em, being the friendly, outgoing ball of spunk that she is, offered to show c around.  a couple of weeks after c's arrival, em started coming home and telling me that c wasn't being very kind to her and was calling her names and causing problems on the playground.  em and i would talk about how she should respond to c and when it would be necessary to talk to the teacher.  the situation ended up turning worse and c's aunt was called in to talk to the teacher and em was asked to be in on the meeting and to tell the aunt first hand how c had been acting.  the teacher stood behing em the whole time and told her that he was very proud of her, and c's aunt was thankful for em's honesty.  em was the kid of character for her class that month for the way that she treated c.
fast forward to today when i was in the room talking with the teacher.  he said that he was very proud of how em handled herself with the "c situation".  he said that em acted in a very christian-like manner.  it's not typical for him to be able to share that with a parent, but he goes to the same church that we go to and he knows how important it is to us.
we are so thankful for the teachers that em has had.  out of four teachers, two of them are members of our church and are strong christians... God is so good!

Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
just as God through Christ has forgiven you."
Ephesians 4:32

happy monday!
a

Friday, May 7, 2010

the story...

when i was trying to come up with the new blog name, i threw around many different ideas, but nothing seemed quite right.  i thought about something crafty, since i love everything crafty.  i thought about something photography related.  i thought about doing something crafty with our names, but that beats the point of taking our name off of the blog.  i was stumped.

nick and i were talking a while back about living in colorado and that's when it hit me... yosemite drive.  the name of the street that our first family home was on.  perfect.

when we were planning to get married, we decided that we would buy a house instead of renting or living on post (ft carson).  he was there in colorado, i was not and that posed a bit of a problem when it came to house hunting together.  with an almost one year old, a full time job and wedding planning, it was impossible for me to make a trip to colorado after january.  he looked at a houses for a couple of weeks but didn't find anything that matched what we wanted.  when he called to tell me that he had found "the" house, he talked me through the layout and explained the house with the most detail that he could and right there, on a phone call with 800 miles between us, we decided to buy the house.  everyone thought it was crazy that he bought our first house without me even seeing a picture of what the outside looked like.  he spent weeks getting the house ready before em and i moved up there. doing things like pulling out the carpet and refinishing the original 30+ year old hardwood and taking useless features out of the back yard (whick was huge, by the way).

the first time i saw the house, our first house, was a week after we were married.  nick flew down to drive em and i and our belongings up to colorado.  he, of course, being the perfect gentleman that he is, carried me and em over the threshold and into the house.  it was even better than i had pictured, it was perfect.

we got right to work, turning our house into a home.  we ate our first family dinner of lentil soup sitting on the floor around a trunk (we didn't have a table yet).  we fell into routines in that house and we fell more in love with each other, with being a family.  we learned to work through anything that came our way.  we learned how to be a team and to always have each others back.  we learned how to live within our means.  we hosted countless get togethers with his fellow army officers and their families.  we celebrated birthdays and positive pregnancy tests.  we became the trivial pursuit champions (that's right, andersons), carved pumpkins, dyed eggs, planned camping trips, planned our move back home, and devoured tri tip and fajitas around our dining room table.  none of our family lived nearby (we did have a cousin in the area, which was nice), so we hosted visitors as often as we could.  there wasn't a month that went by that we didn't have out of town guests and we loved it.  we didn't have cable (gasp) and we would spend our hours talking or playing cards. we could look out our front window and see pikes peak.  we had a sweet neighbor, chester, and i would take him dinner at least twice a week so that he didn't have raisin bran every day.  it's where i spent my 23rd birthday laying the tile floor in our kitchen (he cut, i placed), and wouldn't change a minute of it.  we put our family to work when they would visit... nick's dad helped us re-plumb our master bath after we gutted it.  it was gross, let me tell you.  the only thing we did in there was brush our teeth, we never even turned the water on in the shower.  we tore it out after nick returned from iraq and remodeled the entire thing on our own.  it's where we learned that it's easier to paint base boards before you put them in... thankfully we didn't have carpet!  it's the same home that the three of us walking back into together, exactly nine months to the day after we walked out when nick deployed to iraq.  it's where we jumped in the fallen autumn leaves.  it's where we made snow angels and built snowmen and snow bunnies.  the house that we sold after two days on the market, much to our surprise.  the house that we drove away from on a beautiful april morning with a four year old em in the back seat and ethan on the way, moving on to the next chapter of our lives.  the house that i will always miss.  there are days that i long to be back there, life was so simple back then.  i'm so thankful for that home.  it is where we became a family.

happy friday!
a

i have pictures, but i have to stamp them before i post.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

wordless wednesday

my delicious breakfast... strawberries, blackberries, clementines, bananas, vanilla yogurt & granola.

happy wednesday
a

Saturday, April 24, 2010

my new favorite


me & my little twin at a wedding last month.
♥ her

happy saturday!
a

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

the perfect match

DIY Day @ ASPTL


i've been looking for new throw pillows for our couches in the living room for a really, really long time.  i have looked online, in every store i could think of, and i've even looked at countless fabric stores... nothing. 
e and i were shopping at tjmaxx last week and i was looking at beach towels for the summer.  i was just about to give up when i saw these towels that i loved and had a "lightbulb moment".  they are one of my favorite colors, and in fact, match our living room colors perfectly.  what if i bought them and made pillow covers out of them?  worth a shot, right?  $12.99 per towel and i figured i could get 2 pillows from each.  that's a steal at roughly $6/ pillow (i round down... helps me out with my cfo).
i called my mom for guidance, because i've never sewn anything other than rag quilts for baby gifts.  we figured out the sizes and placement and i got to work.  i have one pillow finished and will post pictures of the others when i'm finished with them.

before:
after:

i think it turned out rather nice.  i'm off to get working on the others!

happy tuesday!
a

Monday, April 5, 2010

Easter treats

i love to make fun things for my kids and baking and trying new recipes is definitely at the top of my list! i made these for our family picninc on saturday and they were a huge hit with the kids, even the grown ones!


these are rice krispy treats (store bought) dipped in chocolate and decorated with colored white chocolate.  i saw the idea on another blog and forget which one, otherwise i would link to give them credit. it would have been really cute to cut the treats like eggs and use white chocolate and more colors to decorate. the possibilities are endless!  they would have been much better if i would have made the bars, but i took the easy route.  live and learn.


happy monday!
a

ps... i didn't take one picture on Easter Sunday.  things didn't go as planned around here, we had a week full of sickness and we just stayed home and enjoyed our family.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

do you know Him?



have a BLESSED EASTER!  HE IS RISEN!
the kahler fam

Sunday, March 28, 2010

to the owner of this scooter...

thanks for leaving it unattended.  it really made for a great photo!


happy sunday!
a

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

check it out...

one of my friends is adopting a baby from ethiopia and she has opened an etsy site to help fund their adoption.  you might want to check out her stuff.  it's pretty cute and would make great mother's day gifts, or Easter gift for little girls.


http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleSmilesAndMore


happy wednesday!
a

Monday, March 15, 2010

99 things...

99 Things...

Instructions: Copy the list, bold the ones you've done (with explanations if needed), share with friends.


1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain (several 14ers while i was pregnant with em... i wondered why i was so slow!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (unless you count singing to my kids)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (it was closed the 4x i was there)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (way too chicken)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (i think)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (does a dinner cruise around manhattan count!?)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (pig latin, i'm so proud)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Been to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter (an air-evac)
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (i hiked down it, spent the night & hiked out)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
 
i guess i need to get off of this continent to check some of the other things off of my list.  might be easier if i wasn't afraid of flying.
 
happy monday!
a

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

wordless wednesday

my girl, still 8 (night before her birthday)
birthday lunch at school (taco bell, by request!)

happy wednesday!
a

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

wordless wednesday


if only i could tackle everything in my life with as much excitement as this precious firecracker does.  changing the sheets would be so much more fun!


happy wednesday!
a