Christmas Tag (sorry it's a little late)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I am a gift bags girl, but for Hunter I wrap.

2. Real tree or artificial? I just got an artificial pre-lit tree and I love it, it's perfect!

3. When do you put up the tree? as soon as I can after Thanksgiving

4. When do you take the tree down? probably after the first of the year

5. Do you like eggnog? mmm, my dad's if wonderful!

6. What about Fruitcake? never had it

7. Favorite gift received as a child? a computer

8. Do you have a nativity scene?nope but i wouldn't mind having a willow tree nativity, it's like 300 for the whole set

9. Hardest person to buy for? any of the guys in my life except Hunter

10. Easiest person to buy for? my mom, she's always so appreciative of everything you get her

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? a lotion bath set that smelled like rotten pine trees, it was horrible

12. Mail or email Christmas cards? mail of course, how could i send the great professional pictures i got of hunter through e-mail

13. Favorite Christmas Movie? Santa Clause and Elf

14. When do you start shopping for Christmas? well i'm gonna start as soon as i can this year so money isn't so tight this time next year

15. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? yup, i recycled a lot of my wedding presents, who can really use 5 George Foreman grills...really?

16. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? mashed potatoes and gravy and my mom's rolls and homemade noodles!

17. Clear lights or colored on the tree? the ones that are on my pre-lit tree

18. Favorite Christmas song? man i love all christmas music!

19. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? depends on colt's work schedule

20. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? definitely

21. Angel on the tree top or a star? a big bow with ribbons going down

22. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? well depends on when colt works once again, this year he had to work 7am to 7pm on christmas day so we did christmas eve

23. What is the one present you want most this year? well christmas is over now, i'm a little late getting this done, but I got what i wanted, my family to come in this year

24. Most annoying thing about this time of year? i live in illinois and my family lives
in West Virginia

25. What I love most about Christmas? being with the people i love

26. What do you miss most about Christmas? the awe i had when i was little, i'm looking forward to seeing it on hunter's face when he is older

New Camera!

I finally figured out how to get the pictures from my new camera, which I love!, onto the computer. So, here are a few that I took, I actually took over 100 in just two weeks. I'll have more after Christmas.

Posing for the cameraSo good at helping me with my laundry.

Playing in the big blanket

Being a ham.

The Abominable Snow Baby....ahhhhh!

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!!!

Computer Malfunction

Playing with his bear "Rupert" in the laundry basket.Talking into a cup with Sharon at the Guthridge get together.

Sunday, we had a bit of a scare with the computer. A thunderstorm lightening storm came through and when I had just gotten up with Hunter, I heard a pop from the computer and then smelled burnt plastic, and guess what, it was the computer. I was so scared that it had fried the computer completely and we had lost all of the stuff we had saved on it including almost all the pics I have of Hunter since he has been born. Since Colt built our computer, he was able to start taking it apart and replacing things that were damaged and we found out that it didn't do anything to the hard drive so thank goodness! Everything was fine and we didn't lose a single thing!
Thanksgiving is coming up and Colt, Hunter, and I are going to WV!!!!! I'm so excited! I miss everyone from home so much and I can't wait to see them. Also, we will go to my Uncle's for Thanksgiving dinner and it will be so nice cause I haven't seen some of my mom's family since before I got married. All in all, I'm really excited and I will let everyone know how it went when I get back.

Pics

Sitting in a little chair at the Guthridge get together.Playing around on the floor in his monkey slippers

Knowing that he's not supposed to get into stuff, there is also a pic like this of me when i was about his age.

We didn't dress Hunter up for Halloween cause I knew I wouldn't take him trick or treating, but Sharon found this little outfit that said my first Halloween on it with a little hat with bat wings. Also, here's a pic of my inlaws Paul and Sharon

The first time Hunter pulled himself up onto the coffee table.

PS, let me know if you guys are reading it, leave a comment by clicking "comment" in the bottom right hand corner of the post you want to comment on.

My Eyes Have Been Opened

Why I thank God every day that I was born in America!

The other night, my husband and I decided to watch a movie and the one that won out the vote was "Blood Diamond". If you don't know of this movie, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connoly, and Djimon Hansou (spelling?) they are all in Africa in the late nineties. The movie is about African conflict diamonds and what the people of the African nation have to go through so that diamonds can be provided basically for everyone but themselves. It mainly tells of the story of a man, Djimon Hansou (the d is silent) who is ripped apart from his family and forced to work in the diamond mines of Africa. While working, he finds a beautiful pink diamond the size of a birds egg and tries to hide if for himself so that he can get his family back and not ever have to worry about being plagued by the civil wars of his country. Well, the movie goes on to show his struggle and along the way meets Leo's character, a diamond smuggler, who also wants the diamond mainly for himself. I won't go into too much more detail about the story cause my purpose for this blog if for you to go out and watch it, but I will comment on the horrors that I saw. Now, I'm sure that for this movie they upped the gruesome parts and exaggerated a few things, but I'm pretty sure that for the most part it was dead on. This movie showed what awful horrible tortures that most of the African people must go through in order to meet the world's diamond need and it was heart-wrenching! Families ripped apart, children with missing arms and legs, mother being shot and killed right in front of their children and the worst part was the ones who were doing the killing, young little boys! These boys were taken from their families and brain washed with drugs and lies into believing that they families and countrymen were the enemies and that they should shoot and kill whoever is not in their "army". I know the magic of Hollywood can be disillusioning, but I am pretty sure that there was very little exaggeration for the horrible things that were depicted in this movie. After viewing what other people, mainly children, have to go through in order to provide me with a pretty piece of jewelry, I no longer wish to have diamonds. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to get rid of my wedding rings, but no longer will I ask or purchase diamonds for myself or anyone else. I urge everyone who reads my blog to go out and rent this movie and see what others are put through in order to provide us with something that is definitely not a necessity. This will be a difficult movie to watch, but in the end you will appreciate being made aware of the horrors that others have to go through and hopefully if enough of us pray and refuse to buy conflict diamonds then perhaps something will change. And just to add a little actual truth to this post, at the end of the movie they stated that there were still over 200,000 children soldiers!!! Little babies used to kill!

What's Been Going On

I had a pile of drool on top of my head after this...

All of us visiting the Yosts

My Mamaw Miller with Hunter

Hunter playing on the 4-wheeler, I'm sure he'll be driving it in no time.

Dad and Hunter were buddies that whole trip!

Well, it's been a while since I have written a blog and people are probably like well she never writes one any more so why should I look so I figured that I better get to writing. So, in the time that I wrote a blog and not just listed things a lot has happened. My mom and sis came to visit me and that was awesome! I love it when they can come. We just hung out around here and went to Tuscola, they have an outlet mall there, and just played with Hunter and ate food of course. But the unexpected surprise was that I was able to go home with them for a visit! Mom agreed to drive me back after about a week and begrudgingly Colt said that I could go. So, we left on Monday and I stayed till the next Tuesday and we, Hunter and I, had a really nice visit! We didn't really do too much but just being able to be home is so nice. One thing we did do was go see the hot air balloons up in Morgantown with mom dad Manda, Hunter of course, Cindy Brian Caleb and Hunter Luke and that was great; although, Hunter did not think so. He screamed and cried and shook all over every time they lit up. But it did make me feel good that I was the only one who could get him to stop crying (it's a momma thing). Mom especially loved seeing the balloons cause she's always wanted to.
On Tuesday we came back, we were gonna leave on Monday but it was mom and dad's anniversary and dad asked if he could see his wife on their 31st!!!! anniversary so how could I say no, and on Thursday mom went back to WV. Wednesday mom, Hunter and I went to run a bunch of errands and one specific one was that I needed to trade in my cell phone to Best Buy before the 30 days were over. Well, guess what I did!?!? Got all the way to the Champaign parking lot of Best Buy and realized that I left the bag with the phone box charger and receipt in my kitchen...I was soooo mad! But Friday Colt and I went up and exchanged it and now I like the phone I have so it all worked out, but I was still annoyed!
I have a lot more to go in here but that is enough for one post I'll write more later and I plan on taking some pics this weekend so hopefully I'll have some more to put on. We're having a Guthridge cookout and I don't have any pics of Hunter with Colts family so I need to start clicking away!

Colt

The husband tag
1. Who is your man? Colt
2. How long have you been together? since February 15, 2002
3. How long did you date? 9 months i think
4. How old is your man? 24
5. Who eats more? hopefully Colt
6. Who said "I love you" first? Colt
7. Who is taller? Colt beats me by a good foot
8. Who sings better? i do
9. Who is smarter? colt, but i can definitely clean better!
10. Whose temper is worse? definitely me...thanks mom...hahaha
11. Who does the laundry? mostly me, colt will do it sometimes and always keeps up with it when i'm away
12. Who takes out the garbage? colt
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? i do
14. Who pays the bills? i used to but it was just too stressful and i hated to be the one who said no all the time so i gave it up to him and he's doing a really good job!
15. Who is better with the computer? colt colt colt...i can't figure out anything anymore, hunter has fried my brain cells
16. Who mows the lawn? colt's papaw
17. Who cooks dinner? mainly me, but colt loves to cook and is very good at it, i've just been doing it longer
18. Who drives when you are together? colt, he doesn't like my driving
19. Who pays when you go out? whoever gets the debit card out first
20. Who is most stubborn? colt wins that one hands down!
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? we're both pretty bad about that, i am stubborn too
22. Whose parents do you see the most? his, course we live only 2 mins from them
23. Who kissed who first? colt
24. Who asked who out? we were set up by friends on a blind date
25. Who proposed? colt and it was sooooo sweet and very original
26. Who is more sensitive? i am, but i like to put up a tough front
27. Who has more friends? colt
28. Who has more siblings? same
29. Who wears the pants in the family? me, i hate wearing skirts and dresses, ha ha ha. we try to be equal but we both get our way most of the time, but i am a girl and try to get my way. :)

Tagged

So, I have been tagged, not really sure where this all started and I don't have anyone else to tag but I'll put the facts for everyone to read.

Here are the rules.
(1)Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
(2) People who are tagged need to write a post on their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules.
(3) At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
(4) Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I am a Science Fiction fanatic. I love Star Wars and I love Star Trek! I have seen each episode of the Star Treks at least twice (except for the original) and I own two of the movies.

2. The only reason I watch the Food Network challenges is to see the sculptures fall.

3. I am a magazine junkie! At one time, I used to spend $30 a month on magazines. I had to stop my habit, but I would get every magazine (well the ones I like) every month if I could afford it.

4. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with my life. Right now, I am a mom and I love it, but if I had to go back to school and pick something to major in, I would be clueless. At one time, I was a fashion design major and really liked it, but there's not a whole lot to do unless you want to live in LA or New York. Then I was an English major, but as you can tell from my previous blogs, I wasn't very good. Plus, there's not much to do with an English Degree unless you become a teacher or a writer. Basically, I'm as clueless as I was in high school.

5. I play this game called World of Warcraft that is soooo completely dorky that I'm really embarassed that I do play it. Most of the people who play it, are little kids, but I just really like it. I won't go into too much cause it's just too weird, but it's not something I ever thought I would get in to.

6. When I was pregnant, I ate an entire chocolate cake with chocolate icing by myself! Colt only had one small piece and it was gone in less than a week, yet I still managed to gain only 20 lbs...while I was pregnant, after is another story! :)

7. I made a quilt completely by myself for my mom dad and sister for Christmas one year and I am beginning another.

8. I feel very sorry for Britany Spears. No matter how many screwed up things she has done, I feel so bad that she lost her kids, and could not even imagine that happening to me. I think she has post-partom depression and she really needs help. I had a little bit of that and I got some help and did much better. I just really hope that she gets through this and gets her kids back.

Ok, those are some facts about me they may not be very interesting, and if you did not enjoy it, blame Tiff...ha ha ha. To read her 8 click on the link to the right

Inspired

As most of you already know by my past blogs, most of them are about my wonderful yet ornery son, Hunter; however, I've been inspired over this weekend to make a different sort of blog. My friend, Tiffany, wrote a blog of 25 things that make her happy (to read her blog just click on the link to the right) and I've decided to do the same. I feel that everyone should write down a list of all the things that make them happy because it makes all those that don't, seem not quite as bad. Some of these may be pointless to most and some may not be in any particular order and like Tiffany's do not include everything that makes me happy; nevertheless, here are 25 things that make me happy...

25. Nail Polish
24. TV
23. The internet (email, blog, etc...)
22. Medicine (without it I would have a hard time living a normal life)
21. Cell phones
20. Pop (I've now switched to Diet Dr. Pepper, trying to lose that baby weight)
19. CHOCOLATE (not really helping me lose that baby weight)
18. Getting mail that is not bills
17. World of Warcraft (it's a silly dorky game, but when you have very little money having something to play around at that isn't very expensive is a big deal)
16. Talking to my family on the phone!!!
15. The hope that one day I'll be able to do more than just talk to them on the phone
14. Hunter laughing
13. Feeding Hunter his baby food (although it can be really messy at times, and for some reason he likes to eat his toes while he eats his food???)
12. SLEEP (however little or much I get)
11. Jon & Kate plus 8 (a show on TLC about a couple that has twins and sextuplets, makes me realize that I can do it with just 1)
10. Books (whether for pleasure or informational, could not live without the baby ones!)
9. Air Conditioning
8. The smell of my mom and dad's house in the winter!
7. Movie or TV quotes
6. Friends far and near who care about me and my family
5. Having really great in-laws who truly love and care about me, Hunter, and of course Colt :)
4. My family, there are hardly words that can express how much they mean to me. I love them so much and it breaks my heart every day that I'm away from them. I hope that they know how much I love them and how much their love means to me.
3. HUNTER!!!!! I love my baby boy so much and even though there are times I get frustrated he's one of the best things in my life and by far the best thing I've ever done!
2. My husband, he puts up with me when I don't think anyone else could and can still make me laugh even when I'm in the worst mood. He gave me my son and he gives me his unconditional love every day, I am so very blessed to have him in my life.
1. The knowledge that there is a plan for me, that I may not always understand it, but God does and if I just have faith in Him, everything will work out for the best.

And of course, I had to put in a few pics of my beautiful boy!

This is a picture of his first day on earth.

This is from just a few days ago, hasn't he grown so much!?!?

Growing Up

Like most babies, Hunter's days are filled with eating and sleeping. Here are some cute pics of him doing just that! This first one he was trying baby food for the first time, carrots, mmmm!This was so funny! I had put Hunter in his bed for just a few minutes so I could do something and when I came back in he had rolled himself up in his blanket and thought it was so funny! He loves hiding under blankets he just giggles and laughs.
We went to our friends Ryan and Blanca's a couple of weeks ago and we didn't stay really late, but it was definitely past Hunter's bedtime. Colt just sat him down on their couch and he just passed out.
This pic was from this evening. I was trying to eat dinner and he was really really fussy (we visited Blanca and Lola, Hunter's girlfriend ha ha, early that day and got new phones so he missed his nap) so I decided to give Hunter a saltine cracker and he loved it. Although i think most of it ended up on him and in the chair beside him. It was so disgusting I had to just throw the whole high chair cover in the washer. Blah!
Here, he started to pull himself up onto his knees by holding onto his bouncy chair. He was up a lot higher but by the time I got the batteries in my digital camera he had slumped down. Some may not think that this is really that big, but I do cause he's just growing so fast and getting so big!
Now this, last night I was giving Hunter a bath and I usually put him on his back, well, he kept wanting to roll over and I wouldn't let him until finally I was like well I'll just let him and see how he does. He rolled over and LOVED it! It was like he was swimming in the tub and he didn't get his face down in the water at all. Now don't worry I stayed with him the whole time so nothing would happen to him in the tub. And just look at that cute little baby butt!!!!!



Lastly, I want to thank all of those who posted comments on my blog. I really appreciated it cause it let's me know that people are looking at it and I know that I'm getting to show off my cutie pie!

Getting his veggies and fruits!

We've just started giving Hunter some vegetables and fruit and here is how he reacted to the applesauce. Now don't think we are being cruel and making him eat it even though he doesn't like it, he really does I just think it being cold and tart made his reaction come out like this. Also I finally, well Colt, put a video on here of him "enjoying" his applesauce. Enjoy!

He really does like it I promise!



by the way, to everyone who reads my blog, I would love it if those who have the time would leave a comment. All you have to do is click on the word "comments" down at the bottom right hand corner of the blog you want to comment on. I would love to hear what you guys have to say...

WV

Here are some pics from my trip to WV. There are some more but my sis hasn't sent them all to me yet. Here's Hunter chilling on the floor.
This pic looks really funny, but I'll explain. Hunter is teething and apparently he was using Alex's head, as well as Caleb and Hunter Luke's, as teething rings. The very next day his very first tooth came in!
Here's dad and Hunter spending some quality time out on the deck.
Hunter was playing on his back and pulled the cover over his head and started playing, it was so funny. He was giggling and having a good time hiding!

Getting packed and eating

Hunter and I are leaving for WV early Tuesday morning so I decided I would start packing! This is the first thing I decided to pack, although, I found it was kinda hard to get this particular piece of luggage packed. :)

Hunter is getting so big! He'll be 6 months old on the 1st and I just can't believe that much time has passed already. We've been debating on when to start giving him solid foods but when he started wanting Colt's Doritos, we decided that it was just about time.
I thought that they might be a little too strong for his first food so...
...I decided to start him on some rice cereal mixed with formula.
Most of the cereal ended up out of his mouth, but some actually made its way in.
Even though he looks a little pouty, he really did like his cereal. He's had it twice so far and things are going pretty well.

Takes after his momma

He was so sleepyJust playing

Isn't he so cute!

Just woke up from taking a nap...so adorable!

Well, I'm staying up late cause I forgot to wash Colt's scrubs for work, needless to say I'm not happy about it cause I'm pretty tired. In the meantime, I will update my blog.
This past weekend our friends Erin and Jared got married! It was a really nice wedding but I gotta say that I'm happy wedding season is over! It's very hectic trying to do all that stuff with a baby so now that the season is over I'm kinda happy. Colt and I both had jobs in the wedding (we were extended wedding party). Colt was to help set up the reception (the ceremony and the reception were both in the same room) and dismiss the tables for food and I was a greeter and did "crowd control" and did cake and punch. It was so nice seeing two people so perfect for each other getting married! I was really honored that they asked me to help.
On Sunday, we went to church as usual, but Hunter decided to spice things up a bit during communion. While the grape juice was being passed around and everything was really really quiet, Hunter decides to let out a really loud burp. It was soooo funny! Everyone started laughing but tried to keep quiet cause it was communion, but it was really really hard. Already my baby is showing promise in taking after his momma in being able to burp! He has a long way to go but his is definitely holding his own for 5 1/2 months!

My "baby" sister

HaHaHa...she'll probably kill me for putting this on here.

Her tattoo.

I just did a post but I was inspired to do another. I was looking at some pics that my sister finally sent me and it just hit me that she is actually grown up! For so long, she's always been my little sister and finally she is now my sister. Here are some pics of her and one of her tatoo!