Grades are in...

I would love to make this post a flowery, emotionally drawn out moment about school and the highs and lows of the situation but I honestly just don't have it in me right now. At some point I will get around to blogging about all the lovely details but right now I just want to scream from the roof that....

I got straight A's for the 3rd straight semester!!!!!!

Wow, it even feels good to type it! :) I am home alone and just found out so I had to share!!

"Blah" Days

I have had a pretty "blah" day today. All day I have been feeling a bit down, just an over all sense of "blah". Nothing is wrong, no horrible thing dragging me down in life. I have just felt off all day. This morning after I got up I checked my calender and saw that not only was nothing due or schedule for today, there is really nothing of importance this week or even the next. It looked more than a little empty. The day got less exciting from there. With the busy life that I led I am usually overwhelmed with joy to have a few free days, I still have school and work but nothing big is due or planned and that normally brings me joy...not today. Then you add in that my parents left for a few days at the boat to that and you have a "blah" Sarah. (Don't worry this post is not as much of a downer as it is currently seeming!) My friend Jes called today after work and we talked about our days and it was even "blah". She told me her complaints and I shared mine and then we hung up. I sat there thinking that my day seemed less than joyful and asked God to perk it up for me. I am pretty happy, and fun person so these sort of days really throw me. I made dinner (blah), watched some TV (a little less blah) and then I checked my various online sites while deciding if I was ready to consider the day a loss and go to bed. Enter the awesome God I serve!! I had a funny little comment from Jes on facebook that got a smile and giggle out of me and then an e-mail that she had a new blog. I decided to check it before bed and wow did my God show up! Jes' blog was all about surviving. She has given up a lot to follow her dreams recently and she is praising God through all the storms (literal and figurative) that she is facing. Her blog reminded me that everyone has struggles and "blah" days but that if we keep our focus on God and the path and blessings He has for us we can make it through all those things. Yes it was a less than amazing day, but, there is nothing wrong. I serve a God who is much bigger than a "blah" day!

Thank you God for my life and the opportunity to even be here to experience the "blah" days!

Last Friday I met Kendra and the girls at the Pleasanton Mall to take pictures with the Easter Bunny. This is our half way point and we have met there before to take pictures with Santa. The girls did really well and the picture is so cute! Once we were done with that we went to a very cool park in town and spent a few hours playing. I brought cupcakes that I made for Peyton (and Mommy & YaYa) and some Easter presents and she loved it all!

This is one of the cupcakes I made with fondant
flowers on it so Peyton could eat the flower!

Peyton and I having cupcakes! I ate the cupcake but
not the flower and Peyton did the opposite!
It was funny because Kendra and I eat like that together too! :)

Here is her line of cupcakes that she ate the flower off of!


Amber chilled in her stroller while Peyton and I hit the playground.

Yes, YaYa is afraid of slides! Peyton wanted to go down it
alone and I didn't want to go down it at all!
I got Peyton a purse, gloves and a hat for
her dress up box and she loved it!
She put her smaller treats in the purse and
tried to open the bubbles!


Not to be outdone by her big sister Amber blow some
bubbles of her own for YaYa!

It was a really fun day with Kendra and the girls and another great memory! It had been almost seven weeks since I had seen them all last which is a long time for us now that they live closer. I drove home that day amazed by how much Peyton and Amber had grown. When I saw Peyton at Valentines Day she was no where near as much of a talker as she is now. She was talking my ear off all afternoon! There were still several times where I had to have Kendra translate for me but I understood a LOT more than before. At one point while she was on the swings a little boy was riding his bike on some high rocks and she turned to look at him and then said "Yikes YaYa, too high!" I laughed at how grown up she sounded at the time but in the quiet of the car ride home I got a little teary over how big she is getting and what an wonderful little person she is turning into. I can't wait to see her again and hear what new things she has to say!

The Blessing of klove!

While I know that I am WAY behind on blogs I can say that I did VERY well on my midterms! Priorities! So I need to catch up on a ton of stuff but it is late, I'm sleepy and I have yet to workout today so here is the thing that is the most pressing.

I have been so blessed the last couple days by the music on klove! I almost always have my radio tuned there but in the past few months I have been getting stuck on cd after cd and I have not spent to much time listening to the radio. Well, I have a new found love (for the 80th time) for klove and the music. There are two songs in particular that have been really speaking to me and I wanted to share them!

Matthew West - The Motions

From the album Something To Say

This might hurt

It’s not safe

But I know that I’ve gotta make a change

I don’t care If I break

At least I’ll be feeling something

‘Cause just ok

Is not enough

Help me fight through the nothingness of life

Chorus

I don’t wanna go through the motions

I don’t wanna go one more day

Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking

What if I had given everything?

Instead of going through the motions

No regrets

Not this time

I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind

Let Your love

Make me whole

I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way

Take me all the way

Take me all the way

This song has just simply blessed my soul! The chorus just hits me and it has become my prayer to God lately. If I am spending time seeking the desires of my heart from God I need to also be spending time making sure I am passionate about Him and what His desires are for me.

FFH - One of These Days

From the album I Want To Be Like You

One of these days I'm gonna fly

Over the mountain

One of these days I'm gonna ride

On the silver lining

One of these days I'm gonna witness

All I've been missing

One of these days

One of these days

I'm gonna do

All the things that I've never done

I'm gonna finish all the races

That I've run but I've never won

And I'm gonna see a million faces

And recognize everyone

One of these days

Chorus:

One of these days

Gonna see the hand that took the nails from me

One of these days

Gonna hold the key to the mansion built for me

One of these days

Gonna walk the streets of gold that were paved for me

One of these days

I'm gonna see my Savior face to face

One of these days

One of these days I'm gonna say

Just what became of me

On the day that I believed

When you took myself from me

And I believe I will say

What I would have been

If You didn't save me

One of these days

And one of these days I'm gonna talk

With all the saints that have gone before

And in their sandals I will walk

And we will sit upon the shore

And I will learn all the things

That I never knew before

All this and more

One of these days

I'll finally be

In a place where there's no more need

No more pain and no more grief

No more foolish disbelief

And all the joy there will be

When at last we finally see

One of these days

This song is just an amazing reminder of the blessing I have in God! I love the line "One of these days Gonna see the hand that took the nails from me" it makes me tear up every time. It is a powerful and awesome thing to be loved as much as I am loved by God and this song reminds me that the trials and struggles here on earth will be worth the reward that I will have "One of these days"!

My Weekend in Santa Cruz

Last weekend I got to spend some time with Kendra and the Family in Santa Cruz. I have not had any alone time there since Amber arrived and I was one very excited "YaYa" to get to spend a whole weekend there! Here are some of the pictures from the weekend, we had LOTS of fun and LITTLE sleep but it was a great weekend with the girls!

Peyton was excited to see YaYa too! The first thing we did was have some quality time at Target so Kendra could get some shopping done.



Peyton and Amber got a new stroller from Brandon's parents and Brandon put it together while Peyton was in bed so she was very excited to see it in the morning and wanted her "drink" while she sat in it and watched Wiggles!



Amber was trying to stay awake for all the fun! It is hard work being a baby.



Smiles for YaYa!



What was planned as a quick walk to the store with the new stroller ended up as a 2+ hour walk all the way to the beach! They loved it and Kendra and I were happy to be back before the rain got heavy.



Snuggles with YaYa...she is so precious!



Wide awake and ready to play...to bad YaYa was not as awake!



We went to Old Navy on Heart-day and they painted Peyton's face for her!



Then my Valentine and I have chicken nuggets and blueberrys for dinner while Mom and Dad went out!



My other Valentine in the famous "Date Night PJ's"! When Peyton was a baby we used to have date night once a week while Brandon and Kendra went out and these were my favorite pj's on her so they became the "Date Night PJ's" and Kendra would make sure they were always clean for that night! Now Amber gets to wear them!!!



"Bubba, can we just take one cute picture together for Heart-day Date Night and then you can go right back to Mickey?" -YaYa
(as you can see that did not work out, but I like this one better I think!)

A Starbucks Drive-Thru Surprise

I had the most delightful surprise yesterday while in the drive-thru at Starbucks. There was a VERY long line of cars and it took me about 15 minutes to get up to the window and receive my coffee. I was willing to wait in the long line because this was my “before night class pick me up” coffee and (this is perhaps more honest) I was already in line and could not back out over the cars behind me! So I was a little annoyed but not too bad about the long wait. One of the benefits of always trying to be early to everything is that I usually have time to spare in these situations. Anyhow, as I reached the window I had my $4.00 ready and was very eager to receive my peppermint mocha when the girl opened the window and informed me that the guy ahead of me had bought my drink for me! How lovely! I was so pleased that I was a bit speechless for a moment. Once I came back to reality I asked if I could buy the persons drink behind me then. She smiled and said “Sure, I love when this happens. That will be $2.10”. While I did end up saving a dollar (I gave the tip jar the rest of the .90cents in an effort to spread the joy) what I really got was a smile and a new outlook on my day. I was so pleased with the little surprise that I almost drove off without my coffee. As I sat there thinking about how much it had just blessed me that someone had bought my coffee I was excited for the person behind me to have that same feeling. I hope she thought the same way I did and kept the chain going. Who knows, perhaps someone bought the coffee of the guy who bought mine. It is just such a wonderful random act of kindness! Sure it is not something big, but it is a great surprise that instantly erased any annoyance I found in line and sent me off to class with a smile on my face! So next time you are in the Starbucks drive-thru and you have a few extra dollars…start a new chain, you never know when you will be on the other end of one!

Congratulations Mom & Dad!

CONGRATULATIONS MOM & DAD!!

Today is my parent’s 29^th wedding anniversary! They are off on a much deserved vacation celebrating and I am thinking about how lucky I am to have them. My parents were high school sweethearts and well over 30 years later are still very much in love. They have been an amazing example of love and marriage for me and are to be credited with the high ideals I hold when it comes to forever with someone. I am blessed to have grown up with such a display of what marriage can be, and I am so very proud that they are my parents!

I love you both!! Congratulations!