New Beginnings!

Sooo, today has been kind of a blah day. This morning, Justin woke me up to give me a kiss before he left for work, but as soon as I opened my eyes, I had an immediate headache. :( It has been with me all day, so that is the reason for it being super blah..
Other than today though, life has been marvelous! :) All of my summer classes are finished and I have lost 6 1/2 pounds in 2 weeks with weight waters! :) <--- This is the most exciting news in my life right now! I have had such a hard time over the past 2 years with trying to lose weight and I always end up gaining more. I think the reason for this is because, even though I thought I was eating right, I wasn't at all. I never realized how bad things were for me until I started having to track what I eat everyday and realized how bad things are. For instance, mostly everything that you would think is healthy at any restaurant, is uaully the worst for you.. Like at chic fi la, I would think that coleslaw would be healthy just because it has veggies in it.. NOT THE CASE.... coleslaw is the worst side they have on their menu!
Anyway, I am just super excited because I am actually enjoying keeping track of my points and everything I'm eating. It's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and I can actually tell that its working. I think another thing that helps this program work is that every week you are being held accountable.. I do NOT want to go to my meetings on Tuesday evenings with my friends and be the only one that didn't lose! It is so exciting for all the girls when they get rewards and reach different goals that are set.
I am a total advocate for weight watchers now, because it actually works!!! :)

Well, this post is continued from yesterday because I forgot to post it!

I woke up this morning and I'm down 2 more lbs from my weight in Monday night! :) I am sooo excited!!

Summer days.

Today, I am sitting in the Mingo County School Board being trained on Foss Kits for use in science classes. I understand that this training looks great on my resume' one day, but it's summer, so it's very hard to get excited about this.. (Especially the drive from South Charleston to Williamson every day!) I have 2 days after today and then im completely finished. :D yay!

So, after this class, summer gets very exciting for me and Justin. Saturday is Addison's first birthday party! I am SO SO SO excited for her! It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm sure the spoiled little princess will get tons of goodies! :) Sunday, Kendra, Bry, Bre, and myself are going to Columbus for the NKOTBSB concert! We will be staying there Sunday night and then heading back monday morning! Then the following Thursday, Justin and I will be going to the Greenbriar Classic in Lewisburg, WV. We are going to see Tim McGraw & Luke Bryan, and then Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert!

Saturday, before the Keith Urban concert, Kaycee is getting married!! :) Yayy! It's going to be so exciting! I'm so happy for her and Casey! On August 5th, Justin and I are going to the beach with my mom, dad, aunt dawn, and hooter! We are going to Ocean Isle! It will be really fun! On August 14th, we will be married for a year!~ An entire year! Yahoo baby!!
August 15th, Justin, Me, Bry, and Seth are going to the State Fair and to see The Band Perry. IT will be graet! I can't wait to see what Justin has planned for our anniversary! :)
I'll post more later!

2 more!

Well, Yesterday, Justin and I went to a place called Creekside Cabins. We decided to go for Valentine's Day, but this coming week we are getting new carpet in the whole house, and Justin's dad is coming down Sunday to help Justin fix the concrete in the basement before we get carpet. So, anyway, we spent the night there and had a blast! :) We didn't really know what to expect, considering it was only about 25 minutes from our house, and we had never been there, but we decided to give it a shot! Here are a few pictures from he cabin and our ride to and from with the pups!

The next pictures are going to be catch-ups from the past two days of non-posting for the Valentine's challenge.

This was my Valentine's gift this year! It is a shadow box that Justin bought and put together for me! These are pictures of a day on our honeymoon when we rode bikes to get crabs and then went back to our condo to eat them! It was a really fun night! The hammers are from the place we bought the crabs! They definately came in handy!

These are pictures of a book that I had made for Justin on http://www.blurb.com/ . It was a really fun and easy gift!

These are Valentine's cards from this year and last year! The one on the left is the one from this year. Obviously, because it says wife on it! I loove the cards that Justin gets me and can't wait to see the rest of them for many years to come!

:)

Have a great Valentine's Day everyone!

Playing catch up again.

Goodmorning everyone! :) I have to do today's post, and yesterday's. Yesterday, I had class, went to eat lunch with Justin at work, came home, and layed down because I had a headache! So, needless to say, I woke up to watch the Biggest Loser, then went back to bed!
Today is my "free day". This basically means that I don't have class or babysitting, so it is the day that I have to catch up on homework, my DVRed shows, and cleaning!

These were cupcakes that I made Justin before we were dating! I had kept his cats for him and I made cat cupcakes for a few other people, so I just made him two that looked like his cats!

This was the scorecard of mini golf from the beach when Justin and I went with his family. I am not going to show the inside, because I would hate to embarrass Justin and show people how badly I destroyed him! :) haha I'm just kidding, but I really did win!

Catch-up blogging!

Well, we had a super packed weekend, which is why I haven't blogged for 3 days! I thought about it all weekend, but just couldn't find the time! Justin's friend, Lyle, came in for the weekend and Friday we went to the Funny Bone comedy club. My friend, Kendra, came with us and it was a really good time! Saturday, we watched the WVU basketball game, went to Justin's church league basketball game, then went to Hooters to watch the UFC fights! :) Kendra calls me a boy for enjoying the fights, but I really just go to eat wings! haha. Sunday, we went to church in the morning, then the dreaded Wal-Mart on the afternoon of the superbowl. We weren't too smart. Anyway, once we finally got home, I had to take an online test, and then started making foood!! :) That is one of my favorite things to do, and I hate to say this, but I forgot to take pictures pretty much the entire weekend, so this is all you get! Sad right? :( Well, I have a few pictures, and I need to update my 14 day reminder of Justin list! I think I posted Friday, so I've got Saturday, Sunday, and today to make up for!
Heerreee we goo.. and at the end of this post, there might even be a few surprises! ;)

This is a note that Justin wrote me right after we started dating. He was in Orlando for their National Sales meeting, and his flights kept getting delayed on the way home because of snow. He wrote me this note on his itenterary from his trip while waiting in the airport! I love looking back at things like this!

I really like this picture because this was the day Justin proposed to me! He was going to propose on the bottom overlook at the New River Gorge Bridge, but once again, due to snow, it was closed. If you look really close, you can see the ring box in Justin's coat pocket. :) I had NO idea. He ended up proposing when we got back to Huntington that night. It was really funny, because when we were walking back to the car from taking this picture, I ran up behind him and tried to put my hands in his pockets. He stopped me very abruptly and kind of actually hurt my feelings, but he was scared I would find the ring. It is a really funny story to tell now, but at the time, I was highly offended! ;) haha

This picture is a picture of a snow milkshake! :) We were babysitting once for a friend last year, and against Justin's will, and better judgement, he let me make milkshakes with the kids from the snow on their back porch. I always wanted to when we were kids, so now that I was the "adult", I was going to make one! I was actually really really fun. This was the little boys. We were also making cookies at the time, so he wanted to put all of the cookie decorations in his milkshake. He wasn't my kid, and I didn't have to stay past his bedtime, so I let him have all the sugar he wanted! ;) haha

Those were the pictures from the last 3 days of the Valentine's challenge my friend, Molli, put on her blog.

So, last week, I was looking around on facebook, and I saw on one of my friend's pages that someone was looking for a home for an abused dog. I looked at the picture and fell in love right away. We wanted to have another dog, but we did NOT want another puppy to have to train. This dog was a year old and already trained, so I asked Justin and he said we could probably get her. I got in contact with the woman who had her, and now we have ABBY! :) She is the sweetest dog in the world. She definately offsets Tyson's crazy self. She lays around and wants to cuddle all the time. As I'm writing this, She is laying on my right side, and Tyson is laying on my left, both sleeping. Here are a couple of pictures of our new Abby-girl! :) 

She is such a sweetheart! I can't imagine a better family dog!  

Day 3! :)

Well, today has been a long day! I had class, came home and took a nap with tyson, went to meet Justin at work, and then we went to get our taxes done at H&R Block. Ugh. it took an hour and a half to get our taxes done! Lammeee!! Anyway, we got all the way home, and I realized that I needed to get laundry detergent to finish all of my laundry, so we went back out to wal-mart! It was a big night for Tyson. Tonight is the first night we have EVER left him out of his kennel while we weren't home! We Tyson-proofed the house as best as we could, and when we got home, NOTHING was torn up! :) Yay! Improvement!

Here is today's picture! This is a picture of last year's valentine's present! Justin got me a very big basket of chocolate covered strawberries! It was AMAZING!!! not to mention that last year ON Valentine's day was when I had my accident on the escalator and couldn't walk for 3 weeks! I think I should post a picture of my knee from last year too!

Story is.... I was going downt he escalator last year and my best friend, Bry, was supposed to be behind me. I turned around and she wasn't there, so I stepped up onto the step above me to see if I could see her and my foot slipped. If you have never looked at an escalator, next time you're on one, LOOK! The steps have super sharp ridges about as far apart as the holes in my knee cap! Anyway, back to the story, I fell on the steps and my knee got super jacked up! It still has calcium deposits on top of my knee cap, but for the most part, it's healed! :)

haha. now I have to go to bed! Goodnight all! I'll be a better blogger tomorrow! :)

Day 2 :)

This is the second day of posting something that reminds me of something Justin has done for me! Today, I picked a napkin that Justin wrote on! This was before we were married and I was going to his house for dinner one evening. He knew that I needed to new lunchbox, but I just couldn't seem to get around to getting one. When I got to Justin's I smelled something that smelled like burning plastic. I walked into the kitchen and Justin had bought me a lunchbox and sat it on the stove. He didn't realize that it was as close to the eye of the stove he had turned on to cook me dinner as it was! It had completely melted the lunchbox, but he wrote me a cute note that was still sitting beside the lunchbox! :)  I love this story!

So, today is the first day of our ladies small group at the hasting's house! :) I'm very excited and I'll let you know how it goes late tonight!

Biggest Loser

So, here is the deal.. I need something to help keep me motivated to exercise and lose weight, so as I was watching the biggest loser this week, I thought that maybe if anyone wanted to do this with me, we could each put in like 10 dollars and then set a date, and by that date, whoever has lost the most percentage of weight, can take the pot! Does anyone wanna do this? Let me know! :) I want to start asap!

Another idea

So, here is another idea stollen from my friend, Molli! :)
She came up with an idea that for every day until valentine's day, starting February 1st, to post something that reminds you of your husband. It could be something they've done for you, something they've given you, or just something that makes you think of them!

Today, I am posting a note on a dry-erase board that Justin wrote before he left Ashland to come to Beckley for our wedding! He wrote this and left it for me to find when we returned from our honeymoon! I haven't been able to bring myself to erase it, but I especially made sure I took a picture, because whether I want it to or not, it is going to come off sometime!

My marriage challenge has been going pretty good! I have made a deliberate effort to try and be nicer to Justin. Like I said before, when everything isn't going my way, I tend to get very short and get an attitude with the people around me I love most. I am trying my hardest not to let that be the case anymore! I also have been doing a lot better about keeping the house clean! I also went to Wal-Mart today and found some really cute Valentine's decorations that were super cheap! I'll post more about them tomorrow! Have a great night everyone!
-Kristyn

Pictures of the weekend!

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend in Clarksburg with Justin's family!

This is Justin and me at the toughman! That was an experience!

My awesome sister-in-law, Adrienne, and me after the toughman!

My beautiful niece, Aubrey!

haha and my hansome nephew, Powers!

They were posing for me

Justin's parent's dog, Sassy! She's adorable!

There's our big guy hangin out with the in-laws!

Weekend Festivities

So, I didn't get any posts up over the weekend, due to the fact the we didn't stop going the whole time we were there! Friday night we got to Justin's parents house about 8:30, and went to bed about 11:00. Saturday morning we got up and went to Tyler, Justin's brother's, basketball game. His team lost, but he had his best game of the season! He scored 15 points! He's really good.
After the game, we went to the toughman! Now, this is a first for me. I normally will watch the UFC fights with justin and enjoy them. I don't think I would enjoy them nearly as much if I didn't force myself to pick someone to win each match at the very beginning. I gives me something to do and someone to root for instead of just sitting and watching. Anyway, back to the toughman. I really enjoyed spending some time with Justin, his friend, Lyle, and Justin's sister, brother-in-law, and his friend, Tommy. The part I didn't like about the whole thing was the ring girls. Goodness gracious! Where are their mothers? haha Oh well, we won't get into that! :)
Sunday, we woke up and lounged around the house most of the day with Aubrey and Powers. My pictures won't upload right now, so I'll try to repost in a few hours and show you some pictures of our fun weekend! :)

Also- My word is discipline. Justin and I decided to have the same word and to try and encourage each other with that word. I am really wanting to lose weight and get better in shape. Justin wants to bulk up and lose a little weight too, so this will work out with the word discipline. We need to be disciplined to work out and to eat healther. We both are also wanting to be more disciplined in our walks with God. We need to constantly be reminded to strive to grow closer to God, which involves making a concsious decision daily to read God's word, pray, and strive to be more like him. This word encompasses all of that!
2 Timothy 1:7For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

I've been doing pretty okay with the Marriage challenge, I think! I've been really trying lately to be a better wife and to show Justin. I've kept the house way cleaner, which he mentioned makes him feel a lot better when he gets home from work, I've kept up with the laundry, and I've been trying to just do little things here and there to show him I love him. Last week after I got out of class, I drove into town and took Justin a milkshake! He really liked it and it was a simple way to show him I care and was thinking about him! :)

This week starts a new part of the marriage challenge.
This week's challenge is: be a little more creative with your praise. Surprise your husband with these 10 fun ways to praise your husband:
1. A love message on the mirror


2. A love message packed in his lunch


3. Use sidewalk chalk and write a love message on the driveway


4. Write a list of ten things you admire about him and then read them out loud to him.


5. Make a toast to him at dinner with friends. Or raise your glass at dinner and list the things you admire about your husband for your children to hear!


6. Buy or make your husband a trophy and engrave it with the words "The Best Husband in the World." (I found a cheap trophy at a party supplies store - the kids loved presenting it to daddy)


7. Write a poem - even if you can't write - it can be goofy. Include in it references to your favorite movies, restaurants, places to go and memories. He will enjoy the trip down memory lane and the laugh!


8- Blow up balloons and put a loving message in each one. Fill your bedroom with balloons as a surprise.


9- Take a roll of receipt tape and write a long message with the things you admire and respect about your husband - then roll it up and put it in a bottle for your husband to open and read. (I made many of these for my husband in college when we were dating long distance. I mailed them in packages.)


10. Get creative with your selflessness!

"When you touch your husband's deepest need something good almost always happens!"~ Dr. Emerson Eggerich

So I challenge you today to not just show your husband you love him but show him that you LIKE him!

I'll post more about how this works out later! :) Have a wonderful day guys & God bless!

The weekend

This weekend, Justin and I decided to go to his parents house in Clarksburg. Justin's little brother, Tyler, has a basketball game, and this will probably be the only one we can go watch! Last time we were in, he was supposed to have a game but got sick and couldn't play, so we are taking advantage of a free weekend and going to visit! I'm taking my camera, so I'll make sure to return with many pictures of my awesome neice and nephew! :) If you're lucky, I may even post before I get back! :)
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Dinner is Served!

Well, dinner tonight was also inspired by my friend, Molli. Yesterday during her snow day, she posted in her blog about potato soup she made for lunch! She posted the recipe, so I decided to try it for dinner tonight! It is super easy! I'll post the recipe after the pictures!

This is Justin cutting up the onions. He loved his job!

He's doing such a great job chopping these!

During the cooking process!

I love cooking with him! :)

Our cute boy, Tyson, being so good while we cook!

He's getting a little hyper! :) Or riding a roller coaster that we don't know about! haha

We were telling him to "speak", so this is him in action. 

The finished product! :) Yummmyy!

Thanks Molli!

Sooo, I will tell you the recipe now!
Potato soup:
6 cups of peeled and cubed potatoes
1 cup of chopped onion
2 cups of chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
3 chicken bouillon cubes
small block of velveeta cheese
Add all ingredients but cheese to kettle with enough water to cover veggies. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt to taste. Cook on med. heat until veggies are tender. Lower heat and add the block of velveeta cheese (cutting it into cubes and stirring it in the mix). Stir until well mixed and cheese has melted. For topping add bacon pieces, green onion, crackers, or sour cream. Enjoy!!

&&& -- About the being nice thing. I've been trying really hard. This morning on my way to Huntington, I prayed a lot about how to better meet the needs of Justin. I need to do a better job of keeping the house clean and keeping up with the laundry. Today when the house was clean when he got home, he told me it made him feel a lot better when he gets home and the house is really clean! This is a new goal for me! I'm going to write out a chart of different things i have to  do each day to make sure the house stays as spotless as possible!


Last thing for the night... I was also listening to K-Love this morning on my way to campus. They have been talking all month about picking "a word" for the year. I am in the process of praying about "my word". This word is something that I am going to strive for all of 2011. That is why I am praying so hard about this. It needs to be something that pushes me and also helps me grow closer to God. Some words that I heard on K-Love today were: Discipline, Follow, Depth. These are just a few examples, so when I figure out my word. (which will be by February 1st.) I will post it! :)
Have a great night everyone!

Inspired by Molli! :)

Well, today, I went to class and instead of coming home (and cleaning), I decided to go waste some time at the SW in huntington! I stayed there and talked to them for about an hour. After that, I decided to waste some more time and take Justin a milkshake at work! :) When I finally decided to come home, I was going to just take a nap! Still sounds like a wonderful idea, BUT yesterday I was reading my friend Molly Markham's blog and she posts a lot of pictures. Her house looked so clean and cute and she seems like such a perfect wife! I know, I know, nobody is the perfect wife, but you know what I mean. Everything just looks so put-together in her pictures! So, this made me decide when I got home to clean the house! I mean really really clean. I reorganized some shelves, cloroxed, swept, cleaned the kitchen and rearranged some things in one of the guest rooms! :) I feel super accomplished and now it's time to make some dinner for Justin before he gets home! :)
Thanks Molli!
P.S. I'll post later about how the nice thing went last night! Better than the night before for sure!

Tyson with cabin fever!

This is what happens when Tyson is stuck inside all day long!

The snow!

This is not so normal for ashland in two hours!

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Not such a good start to my challenge!

Well, in the past 2 days, I have realized how terrible I am a being nice. :) I know, I know... I am not normally rude, but when I'm sick, I have a hard time trying to meet other people's needs, especially Justin's. I realize this, and I know it is definately something I need to work on! I am feeling much better today, and I am determind to be nice this evening and work on my Marriage Challenge.

So, Sunday evening at our house church, I was talking to Sarah Hastings and she told me that she always readsChris Bailey's Weather Blog . I started reading it on Sunday night. He was predicting a lot of snow for the tri-state area. The weather channel said that here would be no snow, only rain, for the whole week. Apparently Chris Bailey with WSAZ is the real stuff. He was completely accurate in everything! I'll post a picture in a minute of what it is looking like out my front door! I am just glad that I don't have to go anywhere today! I get to sit in my nice cozy house with Tyson! :) He enjoys not being put in the kennel for at least 1 day a week!

P.S.- I'll let you know how the being nice thing goes this evening! :)

Starting a little late. :)

Today I am going to try something new. I was encouraged by my cousin, Chad, who took a 365 day challenge to take at least 1 picture every day throughout this year. I am not going that extreme, becasue Chad has a deep passion for photography, but I am going to blog at least 3 times a week. I will try to do more, but it's hard to say what my life will throw at me with school, babysitting, and being married! :)

First off, I am taking a challenge that I saw on a blog I read occasionally. This challenge is called "The 25 Day Praise Plan. - Marriage Challenge". Here is what it is:
There are 25 days until Valentine's Day so it's time to implement the 25 Day Praise Plan.

Each week the challenge will be the same - to praise, encourage, inspire, admire, build up, thank and appreciate your husband. But each week I will give you different ways to express your praise. Feel free to tweak it for what you think is best for your husband.

JR Miller writes "So it is in the dark hours of a man's life, when burdens press, when sorrows weigh like mountains upon his soul, when adversities have left him crushed and broken, or when he is in the midst of fierce struggles which try the strength of every fibre of his manhood, that all the radiance and glory of a true wife's strengthful love shine out before his eyes. Only then does he recognize in her God's angel of mercy."

Let's be angels of mercy to our husbands. We may think they are filled with confidence and strength but they are only human. They have insecurities, fears, failures, burdens and cares that we do not always slow down to recognize. We lose our tenderness in the hustle and bustle of life and this month let's slow down and really see our husband's with fresh eyes.

It's tempting to make Valentine's Day all about ourselves - but let's pursue being selfless and living according to Philippians 2:3-4 "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."(NIV)

Week 1 starts TODAY! Look for ways to praise your husband verbally. Praise him in front of the kids, friends, family, co-workers, on facebook, tweet it - get praise out anyway you can! Try to mention something noteworthy he has done - in his role as provider, father, husband, lover, or friend. If the thought of trying to come up with one terrifies you, then pray right now that God will give you new eyes to see your husband as God does. Then open your mouth and say something kind and uplifting to your husband today and tomorrow and the next day until Valentine's Day arrives!

I am going to take this challenge to help encourage Justin. I know that there are days where both of us just feel like complaining, so I'm taking this month especially to try and avoid those times by saying something encouraging. I'll let you know how this goes!

So, starting February 2nd, My friend Alicia Zornes and I are starting a ladies bible study from the book of Galations. We are having the weekly meetings at our friend Sarah Hastings home in Catlettesburg, KY. We will be meeting every Wednesday from 6:30-7:30 or 8:00. I am very excited to see God work in the lives of all the girls who join us. I am also super excited to see what God teaches me through leading this small group. If you guys could pray for me through this, I would appreciate it so much! There is more info at .

I think that might be it for today. If I think of anything else later, I'll post! I'm determined to follow through with blogging this time!

-Kristyn