You were a good one......

Well, it's the last day of 2010! Wow! It's neat to look back and reflect on the year and all the things that took place. There were some amazing times this year...and some pretty low times. I don't know how I could have made it through this year without the Lord. He is there in every situation. It was fun putting this post together! It took me awhile too! lol! :) I think this might end up being a rather long post!

January:

-Our heater went out in our home during the coldest week of the year!!!!! oh my!

It's funny now!

-I started taking spin classes at the gym

-Went on some fun date nights!

-Yummy coffees

February:

-I was super duper excited when Evan Lysacek won gold at the Olympics!!!!!!!!!!

(i had a wee little crush!)

-We had a very romantic Valentine's Day!

March:

-Tim and I made brackets for March Madness. It's tradition! I did TERRIBLE! It's fun though.

-I worked on my cooking skills...

-We took our Middle School students at church to a youth conference in St. Louis!

April:

-Husband broke his foot playing recreational basketball! :(

-I had to learn how to mow the lawn due to husband's foot....boo! I hated it.

-We discovered an adorable bakery downtown and devoured some yummy cupcakes.

-Missed my hubby's help around the house!

May:

-We got free Chipotle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (We go all the time and they know us....so the manager bought our meal) yay!

-Went on some lovely walks around the neighborhood

-Enjoyed pineapple whip (a delightful treat in our town during the summer months!)

-Finished making my very first wreath!! woot!

June:

-Mr. Tim took me to see Carrie Underwood in concert!!!!! Simply Amazing! :)

-We chaperoned at our church's youth camp

-Went to some outdoor movie nights at our church

July:

-Mr. Tim and I celebrated 5 YEARS OF MARRIAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Went to Kansas City to celebrate our anniversary

-I got to sing at the Diamond Awards Show in Branson! (and i got my first pair of hot pink high heels for the show!) :)

-Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt opened up in our town.....we went on many, MANY

froyo dates!

August:

-We went to Florida on a family vacation! It was a blast! I miss it.

-I tried fish for the very first time while in Florida! I was so proud of myself. haha! :)

-Mr. Tim turned 26! that rhymes!

-The Cup (an adorable cupcakery) opened up in our town! We loooooove it.

-We went to the fair.

September:

-Went to craft festivals!

-Walked in the Pregnancy Care Center's Walk for Life!!!! (Miss Maddie walked too!)

-Went to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play.

October:

-Took Miss Maddie to Pets N Pumpkin Days downtown!

-Did some work on our bedroom.....loving how it's turning out.

-Drank lots of pumpkin spice lattes. heehee!

-Ate lots of pumpkin bread

November:

-I turned 26 years old!!!!

-I got an ah-mazing camera for my b-day.

-We went to see Lecrae in concert! That was stinkin cool!

-Our best friends came into town for Thanksgiving and we got to spend a few days together. I miss them so.

-Enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family....and of course BLACK FRIDAY!

December:

-I was in The Gospel According to Scrooge musical at my church!

-I got to see the Crabb Family in concert.

-We drank a TON of cocoa....for real!

-We saw White Christmas the musical. It was a lovely date night!

-Had a very merry Christmas with friends and family.

-I have gotten to know so many people through blogging...and it's so much fun! I love getting to know you all. :)

Well that's my year in a nutshell! :) I am so looking forward to 2011. God is already working in Tim and I's life...and we can't wait to see what all he has in store for us this year. I'm excited to get to know you all better too! I hope you all have a very happy, healthy and blessed new year!!!!!!

With lots and lots of love,

Amanda

I love opening the mailbox....

It's exciting to get mail right?! All mail isn't fun mail....but those times when you open your mail box and receive an unexpected letter, card or package....it's the best feeling. Today I wasn't expecting anything special in the mail, but I was in for a blessing. I got this precious card in the mail from a lady in my church. I don't really know her that well. I have only talked to her a few times. I thought right away...why in the world is she sending me a card? As I began to read her pretty handwriting, tears just started to roll down my face. I couldn't help myself. I won't share the message word for word, but it basically was a note to encourage me. I sing every Sunday on a praise team at church. I don't normally think too much about who is watching me because I am singing for the Lord....but I guess Sunday she noticed I was exuding joy from my face and that I looked radiant and beautiful. Wow. How random? How thoughtful. What a blessing. I have never been one to feel that I am beautiful or be confident in my looks (i have always struggled with the lack of confidence), so to read those words was almost shocking. It was precious to me and I have already re-read it probably 10 times tonight. It really hit me how powerful our words (or cards) can really be. I have always strived to be an encourager to others. But this hits home. How much this little note she sent me today impacted my day. I really needed that. She was a sweet example to me today. We never know what people might be going through, or if they might be having a rough day....how much a little note or a kind word can lift them up! I want to do a better job of that. So today, I'm thanking the Lord for sweet, Godly women in my life!

It's Christmas Day Of Course!

I already shared about our Christmas Eve celebration....

so next up is Christmas Day! :)

We started our day out just husband and wife! It was so much fun. We had some coffee, opened our stockings and gifts and relaxed.

I love my husband so much! Here is my sweet hubby....super excited about his gifts! haha!

I guess we both make this face a lot?! lol! We were happy!

Oh....Mr. Tim tied that silver bow himself! He was so proud. ;)

We got Maddie a new toy, bone and a pink coat! She snatched up the coat as if it was a toy! It was hilarious. We had to take it away from her!

These are my cute nephews opening their gifts!

These are a few snapshots of my whole family gathered together for Christmas lunch/dinner!

That's my brother in the yellow and my cousin.

My momma and me!

We had such a wonderful Christmas! I enjoyed it so much.

New Year's Eve is coming up! Is anyone doing anything exciting? I'm not sure what we are doing yet. I'm off work Friday!!!! Yay for me! haha!

I am so tempted by all the candy in the house! I need it out of here NOW!

Hmmm...I really need to go put away the folded laundry. There is a mountain of it! At least it is all clean and folded. Laundry stinks!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great week so far! :)

Hugs!

Amanda

A lil Christmas Eve Love

Hi Everyone! Happy Monday! :) I was off work today!!!!!! (yes!) It was a lovely lovely day. I just did some cleaning around the house, ventured out to Target and layed around. Perfection! Target was INSANE!!!!! Completely insane. I was happy I got some super cheap gift bags, wrapping paper, tags tissue etc. I only have to work 3 days this week! Yippeeeee! I am off on Friday for New Years! :) Tis fabulous. I could get used to a 3 day work week. Well, I wanted to give you a look into our Christmas festivities. I thought I would start with Christmas Eve! We always let each other open one gift on Christmas Eve! :) I opened an adorable shirt that Mr. Tim picked out for me and he opened some cologne!

These are my super duper cutie nephews! We always eat with my family on Christmas Eve. We had made some ginormous chocolate covered marshmallows....and the boys were LOVIN it! :)

A little bit of sprinkles left over! :)

This is our Christmas Eve spread! We always have roast! We call it roast beast (after the Grinch movie)! It is so yummy.

This is my parents cat, Alex! I put a bow on him so he could look festive! haha! I don't think he cared for it much. heehee.

This is my parent's beautiful home. I love how it looks at Christmas.

Oh...here's a look at those chocolate covered mallows I spoke of earlier. ;)

Mr. Tim rolling some mallows.

Me and my love on Christmas Eve.

It was a wonderful night. :) As I said earlier....I'm sad it's over but....but I'm doing okay! haha! I did some cleaning today and that helped me be excited about the New Year. I LOVE cleaning and organizing stuff....so this gets me excited! I have loved looking at everyone's pictures from Christmas!!!! What a fun blogging community we have here! :) Merry Christmas!

xo,

Amanda

So Thankful!!!

We had a very joyous Christmas weekend! I must say.....i'm so sad it's over! I'm always the one who sits alone in the dark living room, with the tree lit at the end of Christmas day....almost crying! I know, I'm a huge SAP! :) I love all the festivities, I love being with my family, I love all the special moments, I love reflecting on Jesus......it's all so wonderful!

So....to cheer myself up....I always think of fun things to look forward to! (does anyone else do that?) Also, I have lots of plans for "everyday life" too. :) Getting my house back to normal for one. lol! I have lots of projects planned, maybe going on a mission trip, health goals....so much exciting stuff!

I love looking forward to things! haha!

I don't think I will take my tree down until after new years though. :)

I love having it around.

I will share some more details about our Christmas fun soon! I just wanted to give a little update right now.

Oh....we have SOOOOOOO MANY SWEETS IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is such a good and bad thing! ugh! I am always trying to be aware of my health....and it's so stinkin hard with a ridiculous load of cookies, candy, pie and such just laying around the house.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, relaxing day! :) I sure am!!!

xoxo,

Amanda

Merry Christmas from my home to yours!

We wanted to wish you all a very

happy and blessed Christmas!

Enjoy all the fun, food and love with your family!

Whether your gifts this year are many or few....Jesus is the best gift of all the you could receive this Christmas!

I love getting to know all of YOU that visit my blog. Thank you for your friendship, encouragement, funny comments.....

you all make life a little sweeter! :)

Blessings,

The Shepard Family