Now is the time!: April 2011

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Easter

Please take a moment and listen to this song, "Glorious Day" by Casting Crowns. It is the perfect reminder of what Easter is all about. When I listen to the words I get chills as I think about the amazing love Christ demonstrated on the cross when he took the sin of mankind upon himself . Because of his great sacrifice and through his death and resurrection, we may be saved. We may have fellowship with him while on this earth, and one day we will spend eternity with him! I feel so undeserving and humbled by the realization that Christ loves me that much. I am sinful by nature, but I am made new and my sins are forgiven all because Christ endured the cross. We serve one magnificent God!

"Praise be to the God and Father or our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Green Thumb

I've never had a green thumb, and I’m not sure that I ever will. Gardening and landscaping completely intimidates me because there are so many options and different directions you could go with your yard. I look at pictures of beautiful yards and gardens in magazines and online, and yet I have no idea how to even begin creating one of those looks. Some people just have a knack for it. Unfortunately, I am not one of them at this point in my life.

That being said, this past weekend Bill and I decided that our front yard was in dire need of some “sprucing up.” Bill’s been great about watering our grass, and slowly but surely our grass is gaining more of a green, “grassy” look to it... in some spots at least. It has been extremely dry in Lubbock this spring, and everything is looking a little too brown. I’m thankful for any patch of green I see.

On Saturday we took a trip to Lowe’s to pick out some plants and flowers for the front yard. Man oh man was I overwhelmed by the options. Lowe’s has quite the selection! We spent over an hour trying to pick out just the right flowers, pots, plants, etc. I pretty much went by which colors I liked, while Bill was the logical one and read about how much sun, water, etc. the different flowers would need. I would seriously be a mess without this man in my life. J Anyhow, we eventually made our final picks and headed home to get to work. We still have quite a bit of work left to do, but at least we’ve found a starting place and added some color to our yard. Now I’m hoping I can keep these flowers alive and well. I guess time will tell! I’m currently motivated to see these plants flourish, but I’m also thankful for the policy Lowe’s has of being able to return any dead plants and exchange them for new ones. Knowing that eases the pressure for plant perfection just a bit. J

Maybe one day we'll have a yard like this! We've just got a little ways to go...

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Disney Recap 2011

Disney World has come and gone, and every second of it was everything I had imagined and more! I was giddy with excitement and anticipation as Bill and I drove up to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort last Wednesday night. It’s a beautiful hotel modeled after the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and walking into the ornate, majestic lobby is simply breathtaking. Mom, Dad, Erin, and Sam greeted us upon arrival, and we quickly hit up the ice cream spot at the hotel before going to bed and resting up for our first day at the Magic Kingdom.

We’ve pretty much maintained the same schedule through all the years we’ve gone to Disney World, and it always seems to work out wonderfully. Our routine consists of meeting for breakfast at 8:00 (where we typically consume delicious mickey mouse waffles) and then arriving at the park by 9:00 so we can ride our favorite rides while enjoying short lines. Each day we would stay at one of the parks until 1 or 2, and then it was back to the hotel for some R&R by the pool before meeting for dinner in the evening. Oh, the dinners! Boy oh boy did we enjoy some amazing meals during our trip. I tried to prepare Bill in advance for how much food we tend to eat at Disney World, and he was still shocked by the amounts of food we were able to consume in a day. It was all well worth it in my opinion. Eating on vacation is one of the best parts about being on vacation! Our favorite dinner restaurants include: Narcoosees at the Grand Floridian, Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge, The Yachtsman Steakhouse at the Yacht Club Resort, Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Resort, and California Grill at the Contemporary Resort. You simply can’t go wrong eating at any of these restaurants for dinner. Just be prepared to feel stuffed afterwards! J

In addition to our great meals, we had a blast at each of the parks. The Mt. Everest roller coaster at Animal Kingdom, Rockin’ Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios, and Soarin’ at Epcot were probably our three favorite attractions. Disney World also has the best fireworks on planet earth, and we often enjoyed watching a spectacular fireworks show post dinner. Other favorite memories from this particular trip include: squeezing 6 adults into a 4 person surrey and riding it around the boardwalk while honking our horn and yelling funny remarks at innocent bystanders in our way, breaking parade rules and trying to cross the street so we could get to Thunder Mountain and immediately being halted and pushed back by parade security in .2 seconds (hats off to Disney World security for the amazing job they do!), performing “screens” and “blocks” to keep people from getting in front of us in lines (we’re not hard-core at all), and going to Epcot to watch the British Invasion (a Beatles cover band) perform while enjoying a beer in England before dinner one evening. Yes, we definitely made some incredible memories, and I’m so thankful to Mom and Dad for treating us all to such a fabulous vacation. Disney World brings out the inner kid in us all, and there’s really no place like it. It truly is magical! I took tons of pictures, but I’ve posted some of my favorites below. Hope you enjoy!