New Years...a few resolutions for our family!

Hailey and I went to Marshfield today (we'll have another post on that maybe tomorrow...) and while I had been thinking a lot about the New Year coming and making some resolutions, I hadn't had the time to really put them into any sort of "reality" in my mind, so while Hailey slept I spent my time formulating a plan for my New Year's resolutions. And, to keep myself accountable I'll put them on here, so that you all can know if I'm keeping up with them or not! :)

First, Hailey's resolution for 2010 is to learn to stand on her own and walk! Hopefully that won't be too hard of a feat and she'll catch on pretty quickly! :)

she's already standing and playing, but only if I put stand her up there, she can't quite pull herself up yet! But, she has a whole nother year to accomplish that, so in another 12 months hopefully she'll have gotten it! :)
And, I have two New Years resolutions...It was actually hard to pin it down to only two, but I figured that if I had too many I wouldn't accomplish any of them! :)
Resolution #1: "Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow!" I Peter 2:1 I had thought, for a while now, that my resolution would be to think more positively and to stop comparing myself to others, but when I read this verse this morning I knew that it summed up what I wanted my year to be about. I want to focus on the Word of God. I want that to be my all-sustaining power, but I also want to become more "holy" in my life and I feel like this verse just summed it all up in a nice neat little sentence! I'm making a conscious decision to lay aside the evil parts of my nature and reach for the godly, desirable parts that come from spending more time with my Lord and Savior!

Resolution #2: This one is a lot less spiritual and I don't even have a great verse to back it up or anything, but Korey and I are going to become more healthy! Now, before you shut off the computer and lump us in the category of some health nuts, let me explain. We aren't going to be giving up candy or sugar or even soda and coffee, but we are going to commit to making one healthy meal a week and go from there! I'm going to document it here, on my blog, so that I actually keep up with it. I'm going to call it Our 52 Week Experiment. And, each week I'll just document the meal that I made that week and the recipe for it. When I first thought about wanting to eat healthier I intimidated even myself (not to mention my husband, who completely freaked out and threatened to stop at McDonald's on his way home from work everyday!) :) But, the more I've thought about it, prayed about it (yes, I did pray about it...) and read about healthy eating I realized that it doesn't mean I have to give up good taste- or eat vegetables every night.(I guess I would say that Korey and I are kind of picky eaters...we don't like a ton of veggies):) I'm sure there will be meals that I won't like the taste of and that we don't ever make again, but I'm also sure that there will be a lot of yummy tasting meals! And, hopefully I'll be able to start serving more salads with our meals- that instantly makes them healthier! :) I'll give you a sneak peek of what they may look like:
Here is our dinner from last night...I served it with individual salads (mine with spinach, fruit and some nuts and a chinese dressing and Korey's with green leaf lettuce, croutons, peppers, carrots, cheese and western dressing) I purposely made the salads big and only cooked about 15 shrimp, which is a little over one serving. The noodles aren't whole wheat, and I'm sure it would be healthier if they were, but my husband refuses to eat them, so we'll go with what we can get! :) I marinated the shrimp in lemon juice, mustard, garlic and salt and pepper for 10 minutes and cooked them in a tiny bit of the sauce. The rest of the sauce I put over the noodles and then spooned the shrimp on and served it. All in all it took me about 20 minutes to make dinner and it was really good! I feel like it was a healthy meal, because: 1) it was seafood 2) I didn't use any oil in the cooking of it, other than to spray the pan 3) we started the meal with a big salad and didn't over eat the main course! ;)

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Glorvigen

Today is my Dad's birthday, so Hailey and I went down to visit my Dad and help him celebrate!

Both of my Grandmother's came over, too...mostly to play with Hailey, but under the guise of celebrating my Dad's birthday!
Hailey had a good time playing with her great grandma's!

And, playing with her Grandpa!

while my Grandpa Herb slept in the chair, apparently it was just a little exciting for him!

And, to finish the day off Hailey got to ride the doggie ;) Allie was too quick to stand up, but poor Thor just laid there and got a baby dumped on him!

peek-a-boo

I see you, Hailey! ;)

I found her peeking out at me when I went to check on her while she was supposed to be sleeping! Little bugger!! Good thing she's so goshdarn adorable... and Daddy, too!

Merry Christmas!

I'd have to say that Christmas this year was definitely a success, in every matter of the word! :) Korey and I considered it a success, because we thoroughly enjoyed spending some time with family and especially some time with Hailey! My favorite part was spending Christmas Eve going to church with my parent's and then heading back to Korey's parent's to play some games and eat some yummy food. It was just such a relaxing and fun day for me! I hope that every year is like that! Or maybe my favorite part was rocking my cousin's little boy to sleep...and then holding him while he slept for a few hours on Christmas! That was definitely a hightlight...Korey considered it a success because he got to help Hailey open her presents and she was so cute and had such a good time! I think that Hailey considered it a success, because she got a lot of toys....look at the hawling this little girl made this year...I'd definitely say that she's super spoiled! ;)

(all her presents...)

This is her little cradle and doll that she got from her Grandma and Grandpa Gorney- our wonderful and nice neighbor's!

Isn't her little Christmas dress cute??? I just loved it- and her little boots!

hanging out on Daddy's lap....

then she got hot, so she had to loose the clothes!

giggling while Daddy licks her head! (what a weirdo)

Thor, my Mom and Dad's dog!

and Allie, hanging out in the middle of all the wrapping paper and gifts!

Daddy and his little girl...he said to me today, "don't you just want to kiss her cheeks?" ;) I think he loves her a lot!

Philly playing with his new camera- he's getting to be quite the photographer these days!

My beautiful sister, Felicia. She's the only person who can look this beautiful without even getting out of her jammies!

My Mom, Dad, "little" brother, Mike, and his fiance, Sarah!

Hailey and her Nani by the Christmas tree

Don't you love the boots??? She looks so preppy and fun in them!

Her one and only present from her mommy and daddy

goodbyes are always sad...

Well, the day finally arrived...it was Owen's last day, today!! I knew that this day was coming, from the beginning Laura had been planning on heading to North Dakota at the end of December, so I shouldn't have been caught off guard, but I guess I was. It was a bittersweet day...in some ways I'd have to say that I'm looking forward to the freedom that only having one baby in the house will afford me (and Korey's looking forward to me not being so worn out so I think about maybe wanting another one!) :) I'm mostly looking forward to being able to go to baby buddies again- I have really missed all the mom's there and just hanging out. But, that doesn't even begin to outweigh what I'll miss with not having Owen here. I have totally loved having an excuse to see Laura three days a week...it's been so much fun to just chat with her at the end and the beginning of the day. It definitely makes my days go by faster. :) And, speaking of days going by faster- they definitely fly by when I have Owen and that's a huge bonus, especially when Korey works late, or doesn't come home at all! Plus, it's so nice to be able to ask Laura to stay for supper or to hang out for a while when both of our husband's are working late. On a completely selfish note, I'm gonna kind of miss having a little bit of spending $, too. I like being able to just have some cash that I can use for whatever I want. I was able to buy Korey all of his Christmas presents with what I made so far and it was nice not to have to worry about how I was going to "hide" the $ from him! :) I'm sure I'll find other ways to spend my days, but I really will miss filling them with this sweet little 4 month old!

I tried to get a picture of the three of us, today, but Allie wanted to make it four and Hailey didn't want to be a part of it at all!
I did manage to get them both under the tree at the same time, but had a hard time getting them both to look at the camera!

here they're looking, but what faces they are making...oh well, i guess you can't be too picky, huh?!

I had to keep pulling Hailey back and putting her by Owen, 'cause she kept trying to scoot away and play with her toys! :)

Owen was a little easier to pose, but I had a hard time coaxing a smile out of him

There's the smile!

Isn't he just the cutest thing?? He borrowed Hailey's santa hat for the pictures...he's kinda bald, so a hat looks really good on him! :)

Owen, you're such a little sweetie! You always have a little smile for us and you're so gosh darn adorable!! I love you, little buddy and I'm gonna miss you more than you know! :)

A Konietzki Christmas!

This weekend we celebrated Christmas with Korey's family, because Kelly(Korey's sister) and her husband won't be able to make it on Christmas, they'll be spending time with Ben's parent's. It was really fun and Hailey really enjoyed herself a lot! My favorite part was watching Hailey open and play with her new presents!! I can't wait until she gets to do it again...good thing I'll only have to wait a few more days!! ;)

We had a chance to take a family picture!
Hailey really enjoyed playing with all her new toys...I think that we might have to build an additon onto the house to store it all, though! ;)

she did take some time out for some snuggles with her Great Grandma Breit!

Daddy did have a lot of fun playing with Hailey and her new toys!

Grandpa enjoyed giving her her bottle and getting a little bit of snuggle time- usually she's just too busy playing to want to sit on anyone's lap!!

what could possibly be in the big box?? who cares...she just had fun standing there crunching the wrapping paper

I think she's just gonna eat the present....

she learned how to clap!! Yay! What's funny, though, is that she now claps for herself when she does something that she thinks is worth a round of applause! ;)

Here she is with her new present from Great Grandma- her favorite present of the night

she was more interested in the bows and the wrapping than a lot of the presents!

I just love her little face!

hailey's Christ-mas adventures!

Every December I start out saying that I'm not going to be busy and this is going to be the year that I don't have a lot going and I'm going to have plenty of time to relax and just enjoy the season! I know you're probably all laughing, right now, but in my defense it seems like at the beginning of each December I don't have much planned!! :) But, regardless of what I originally think, my December fills up quickly and before I know it it's off and running and getting close to Christmas! And, this year has been no exception. Hailey and I have been pretty busy the last week- running here and there- getting last minute Christmas stuff, going to cookie exchanges, getting together with friends before we get "too busy", and doing all the necessary home stuff, like wrapping presents, cooking, baking, and decorating! Not that all of that isn't fun, but Christmas isn't even here yet and I'm exhausted!! I definitely need to take a break this coming week...ok, so that probably won't happen, but I am going to take a few minutes out of my busyness to sit and just ponder Christmas, instead of all the rush, rush rushing!
So, here's what Christmas means to me, in the busyness of last week! :)

Christmas means looking to Jesus to help us and realizing that He is the only One that had the capability to save the world! Hailey helped me out with this by getting stuck between the two chairs while she was trying to get to the books...there was no way she was going to get out of this mess unless I picked her up and helped her out! :) A lot of the time I like to think that I can do it on my own and fix all of my own problems, but that isn't true--and, it's especially not true about Korey and his job- I need to stop try so hard to fix it or to plan for "whatever" and just trust that whatever does happen is God's best for our lives!
Christmas also means using the abilities and "things" that God has given us for a good purpose- their right purpose! Hailey was chewing on my makeup- a purpose it wasn't supposed to be used for, and she splattered it all over herself! And, I do the same thing...I do have a lot of gifts and abilities that God has blessed me with, but unless I use them for the right things- for His things- they will eventually blow up in my face! :)

Being in the right place helps! Hailey had been having a hard time pooping, until she decided to scoot down the hallway and read Daddy's magazines in the bathroom...then, she was able to let it all out!! ;) (can you see her poop face?) And, I think that I struggle with that, too...I want to have a right and good relationship with the Lord, but I'm generally in the wrong place- I'm focusing too much on what I need to do or my heart isn't right, but when I get myself back to the place of sitting and taking time to read my Bible or quieting my heart before the sermon at church, then God can talk to me and touch my heart in a way that wouldn't be possible my heart was in the wrong place.

It's all about what we're feeding ourselves!
If I give myself a steady diet of busyness and living to please others- or of junky movies or tv shows, that's what's going to show up in my life. But, if I give myself a steady diet of the Word of God and good godly fellowship, that is what will show up! :)

Sometimes you just need to take some time out and find the good in a situation- even when it's not necessarily what we want! Hailey hates being on her belly, but lately she's been finding out that she can be content and happy playing on her belly- plus, she's learning how to pull herself along a little bit! And, that's what I need to do. I tend to just focus on the bad things of any given situation and I was really convicted by a friend who told me that I could find something good about Korey "potentially" loosing his job, if I wanted to! That's what I need to remember to focus on, instead of what I wouldn't like! It's all about the outlook and I need to remember that this Christmas!