Monday, November 30, 2009



1. Favorite website


My favorite website is http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/  I don't go there very often, but it is my fave for sure!  She's got recipes, photo advice and great photo art, blog, etc..very entertaining.



2. Favorite color

BLUE!  Every shade, love it love it love it.  There is no other color that can capture every emotion from depression to jubilee!


3. Facebook?

It's less and less fun every day.  And, it wasn't ever fun to begin with.  But, it's a great way to keep in touch with friends and that IS fun!



4. Favorite Christmas song?

I like Christmas music in extremely small doses.  As in it can start on Christmas Eve, and needs to be done by Christmas day.  The same song of any style over and over annoys.  But, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (The Christmas Song), Mary Did You Know and Silent Night are a few of my faves.



5. Christmas tree: Real or fake?

I love real trees but we have a fake one.  When we moved to Texas the real trees were INSANELY expensive so we HAD to get a fake tree.  We've never gone back.  Although next year we plan on going to chop down a Charlie Brown type tree.  Then again..that's a lot of work.  Might as well save a tree.



6. Hottest celebrity?

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson..about 5 years ago.  Kevin Costner, always.


7. Favorite restaurant?

In Idaho, El Gallo Giro



8. Favorite magazine?

Southern Living and the Paula Deen one



9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays?

Water and coffee



10. Favorite Christmas movie.

Christmas Story!  And then all of the old ones.  Also, Elf and Polar Express.  Where I cannot hardly stand Christmas MUSIC, I LOVE Christmas MOVIES!!  I watch them non stop from the day they come on until the day they take them off again.  We've been watching since just after Halloween this year.

P.S. How do I get an active link for the Friend Makin Monday site?
Had a wonderful Thanksgiving mini vacation down at Mom n Dads.  Went down on Wednesday around noon and stayed till around noon on Friday!  Then we came out and picked up the new puppy, Greta. As soon as we got home, I took Greta upstairs for a nap with me!  It was great.  She's sleeping next to me as we speak.  She has major energy for about 15 min (sometimes we get 30 min out of her) and then she's out.  I'm sure this will change as she grows.  :) 

Yesterday my Mom n Dad brought out the last of the 3 family heirlooms I've been inheriting.  I have 2 desks and now one chest.  They were my Grandma Hartmann's (my maternal gmother).  So glad to have them all.  Also, this weekend, my Grandma Mundy gave me all of her recipes in her recipe tin.  Some of them are so old they are hard to read.  Really special to have them.

The sun is out today, not a dark cloud in the sky :) 

Well, I hope this day is going well for you!  I'm off to look at all of your blogs to see what I should be posting today :)  If memory serves, it's Friend Makin' Monday?? Could be totally off on that.

Love you!  You Matter!  Walk in Joy!!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Ok, next one..




This one is asking me to list these 10 things, here we go! :)


1. Turkey or Ham?
We always have turkey.  Most of my family is not into ham.  And, I almost always make it. Thanksgiving is "my" holiday :)

2. Favorite side dish:
Mom's mashed potatoes

3. Favorite dessert:
No matter how many desserts we make, the one I always look forward to most is the Chocolate Cream Pie

4. Black Friday: Are you going or not?
We haven't been in years.  Since before my son was born, which was almost 8 years ago!  But this year we have decided to go.  I won't lie, I'm only going because it means I get coffee and breakfast. :)

5. If so, what's on the top of your list?
Whatever Chris wants for Christmas and then we are hoping to find some good deals for birthdays that are quickly following Christmas. 

6. Going out of town or staying close to home?
Thanksgiving is my "non traveling" holiday.  So, we will be home..but not my home.  We will be at my parents.  It's easier for us to have it there, they have more room..plus Gramma won't make the drive out to Kuna. 

7. Hosting or helping?
Well, it's kinda tricky.  I sort of host but I sort of help.  It used to be that I did 99% of it but just hosted it at Mom n Dad's house.  With the change in the money situation over the years it has had to become more and more of a co-op situation.  Which is fine, too!  It's actually really fun that way.

8. Name one family tradition at Thanksgiving:
Umm eating till we almost vomit?

9. What do you do after dinner?
Wonder if the boys will clean up.  Realize they wont, and then we start cleaning up.

10. What are you most thankful for this year?
The opportunity to be able to really enjoy it and my family without having to worry about fitting it in with a work schedule.
I've been a naughty blogger.  But, I am determined to catch up!  So..let's start with the 7 interesting facts about myself thingymajig.  I know I'm not doing it totally right, but if I have to go find the graphics for the blogger nominations and then nominate lots of dudes, well, I just won't do it.  So we modify. :)

7 Interesting things about interesting ol' me:

1. It's pretty hard to feel any better than I do when my home is clean and full of the scent of some yummy candle.  Today's candle is: Feliz Navidad by Yankee Candles.

2. If I'm having a rotten day, there are a couple things that can cheer me up.  One of them is tacos at El Gallo Giro.  Another is a Tall iced Americano with cream and vanilla with whipped cream from Starbucks (if it's cold outside I want the hot one without whip).  Keep that in mind next time you, or someone else, ticks me off.  haha

3. A hug can make all the difference.  Sometimes bringing laughter, sometimes bringing tears.  But all the same, it brings difference.  I'm not always sure what it will bring..so it's a surprise for both of us! haha Anyway, thank you for the hugs :)

4. I hate shoes.  I only wear them when absolutely necessary.  Because of this, my car is usually full of shoes.  I take them off immediately when I get in the car.  And then when I get home I leave them in there.  This drives my husband crazy.  Now, in my defense, I usually wear flip flops so it's not like they take up a lot of room.  But, still.  I even admit, it's annoying.  But, it's my car and I'm the one who drives it 99% of the time so I think I have final say on what I leave in there.

5. Static cling.  Its origin is straight from the deepest depths of hell.  And that's that.

6. I could eat my Mom's mashed potatoes with every meal for the rest of my life and be a happy camper.  They're so yummy and buttery and perfectly salty.  And they bring me right back to that place I never want to be away from.  Home.

7.  I'm always on the hunt for a softer, cuddlier, snugglier, more enveloping blanket.  Doesn't matter how many I have, I'm always convinced that there is one out there that is just a smidgen better.

Ok, I'm feeling wild so I'll go ahead and nominate uhh 9 people?  I can't remember what it said.  So let's go with 9.  Will the following 9 people please sit on down and write out 7 interesting facts about themselves for our viewing pleasure (on their blogs, not mine)?

Chris Mendiola
Ashley Mendiola
Barbara Mendiola-Janzen
Heather Hillman
Tierney Gillihan
Georgiann Gillihan
Aunt Judy
Jen Clover

OH, and fact #8.  I detest the fact that they have removed spell check from the blogger stuff.  WHY would they do that???

Thursday, November 19, 2009





Here are a couple pics from our recent family pics.  Our friend Heather took them!  I think I gave you the link to her blog awhile back.  Anyway, I'll post more later.  But it's been forever since I blogged, I thought I better at least do something!  Later tonight I plan on doing the "7 Things" blog from Tiffany.  About time, right? haha  Love you guys

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

I just LOVE chocolate chip cookies.  Well, any cookie really :)  But since I just polished off the rest of the chocolate chip cookies that's where my brain is at.  Yummy.

Just wanted to share.

But, I also feel like I'm supposed to say to someone out there reading this that it's going to be ok.  Don't worry.  He's got it all under control.  Let Him fix it all.  In this world you may be experiencing many troubles and heartache, but take heart, He has overcome the world.  And He is bigger than any mountain you are facing.  Take it one step at a time.  With Him, all things are made new.

Love you guys!  Hope you are having a wonderful week.  Take time to bless someone..when you bless someone, you also bless yourself.  xoxo

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Facebook is quite possibly the most annoying social network on the planet. It never works right, it's ugly. It's boring looking. It's got no flair. I just can't stand it. The word DETEST comes to mind. But I must stay there because everyone has deserted the beautifully designed and fully flaired Myspace. *sigh*

I just needed to get that out.

Well we are in the middle of week 3 of homeschooling. I'm not tired of it yet. In fact I'm growing to love it more everyday. We just have so much fun together. Thursday we have a field trip to a movie theater to find out the inner workings of a theater. Kind of fun.

Went to my friends Pampered Chef party tonight. It was so nice and relaxed and fun. And the food was great! Love it when parties go like that. The ones filled with awkward silent moments are always, well, awkward. Not the case tonight. ahhh refreshing :)

I'm working on editing pics from this last weekends JBQ meet and Shoshone Falls visit. But it's slow going. I just don't have a whole lot of energy or desire left over at the end of the day to sit and edit pictures for hours.

Read Hosea last night. There is a scripture in there that I LOVED. It is:

Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, break up your unplowed ground. For it's time to seek Him until He comes & showers righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12

In the next chaper it talks about how many things God did for Isreal..all of the provision, the grace, the help, etc..and then here in this first line in 11:7 (Hosea) that says: "My people are determined to turn from me." 


As a Mom who had had moments of insanity the past few days, and as a wife who had moments of hurt feelings yesterday (PMSing doesn't help)..and chose to dwell on them instead of let them go, this verse hit me hard.  My family didn't turn away from me..but I was nursing my hurt feelings.  And in that sentence I realized how the Father feels when I choose something over him.  When, essentially, I turn from Him to another.  No matter what amazing things He has done for me, and no matter how much I love Him for it, I turn.  I turn.  I turn.  And I'm not the only one.  The passage doesn't say "Sarah is determined to turn away from me."  It says MY PEOPLE.  

Explaining...


Every morning I have devotional time with Jaden before we start school.  Then most every night Chris and I read a Psalm together.  But I've been feeling the Lord tugging at my heart that I need more.  More time with Him.  Alone time.  Admittedly, much like the editing of my pictures..by the time I have "time" to sit down and do "nothing", I have little energy and/or desire to dive into a personal Bible study.  

This last week as soon as I go in to lay in bed I hear Him say, "Please spend time with Me."  I know He means in the Word.  But, instead I pray and drift of to sleep..as if to pacify Him.  Well, He's not pacified.  He's not entertained.  He's not had the wool pulled over His eyes.  He's hurt.  Because, again, He has blessed me beyond measure..and again, I turn.  So, last night I decided to turn AROUND.  To REturn.  And as I prayed that He would reveal Himself to me in His Word, He did just that.  He is always faithful.  When I found that first verse (10:12) it just popped off the page like a neon light.  It's not time for me to be tired or to sleep.  It's time for me to SEEK, and to break up my unplowed ground.  It's time to grow. It's time for me to gain understanding, and wisdom.  And there is only one place I can find that.  Anyway, I wasn't going to share that but it came out..so there you have it. :) 

Don't turn away from Him.  He loves you.  He so wants to spend time with you and love on you.  When you've had a day of hurt and confusion and frustration, don't turn to something else to soothe you.   Turn to Him.  He longs to soothe every pain you have.  Don't wiggle in His arms, instead rest.  Just rest.  You don't have to explain.  You don't have to even say a word.  He already knows.  Just let Him love you through it.  There is no better salve for your wounds than the love of Jesus Christ.  So let Him heal you.  You don't have to beg.  You just have to allow.  In His arms there is safety beyond compare.  Just let go.

And on the good days, He is the best dancing partner around!  He's so excited to hear your joys, your triumphs.  He adores every hair on your head.  His banner over you proclaims LOVE!!  You are the apple of His eye.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Howdy!

Hope you've all been enjoying your week :)

Home school is in full swing, and we're having a blast!  I won't lie and say it isn't tiring.  It totally is!!  But, it's sooo rewarding.  I love it when the lightbulb goes on and he gets something.  His little face lights right up!  We've done quite a few different things already this week and it's only Tuesday!  I won't bore you with the details, but we are still both very excited when it's time for school in the morning :)

Chris got J up early this morning, they took Ash to the bus stop and then went on to buy their new movie, G.I. Joe!  They are up watching it now. 

We've been enjoying awesome weather the past few days.  Sunny, breezy, cool.  Perfect!  I'm enjoying all of these days while they last.  Snow is on the way, I'm afraid!  I will enjoy it this year, I'm determined to!  I think it will be easier to enjoy because I won't have to drive in it.

Saturday, our friend Heather ( http://heatherhillmanphotography.blogspot.com/ ) took our family pictures!  We had soo much fun and can't wait to see the results from all of our hard work smiling! :)  Jaden, I'm afraid, will have his fake smile in most of them..but I think Ash did pretty good.  It's hard to tell when I'm not behind the camera!  I need to work on sprouting those eyeballs on the sides and back of my head. 


Well, I'm off to take Ash to quiz practice. But here are some new pics of the puppies!  I haven't picked mine out yet...and I'm only showing you the girls b/c I'm not getting a boy. :)