coffee with grandma

My parents aren't much of coffee drinkers, so for this trip to Idaho Kyle and I go to my grandma's house for coffee.


It begins with us sitting around the table chatting and doing a great deal of laughing. Then grandpa usually wanders in about ten minutes later and joins the fun. He and Grandma tease one another for awhile and then back to the regular chatting.


That's house coffee begins. It ends with me and my grandma in her garage. She goes through all of her "stuff" and asks if I want any of it. Yesterday we almost left with a never before used vintage set of coke glasses and pitcher. We did leave with 4 clay "moonshine" pitchers from my great-great-great grandfather, (my oldest sister wanted them as well, so my four pitchers will soon be 2), a skirt, a cheesecake pan, and 2 cookbooks. 


That was just from day one. Who knows what we'll be carting home with us! 


A little side note: Something that has been on my heart for the last few days. It is so easy for me to not filter my words with my family because they are my family. There isn't anyone in the world I am closer with or love more than my family, so it seems safe to say whatever I want to them. 


The Lord really convicted my heart when I was reading my Spurgeon devotional yesterday. He encourages that it is not profitable to debate parts of scripture that the Word is silent on. Also, we should only speak what is edifying and God honoring. 


My sisters are hilarious. We have SO much fun together. I am blessed to be surrounded by a family that loves the Lord!  I pray that am as much of a blessing to them in my speech as they are to me. 

Over the Mountains and Through the Woods

It's not exactly "to grandmothers house we go" (although we will spend plenty of time there,) but Tomorrow morning we leave for Idaho!

We have really been looking forward to this. Two weeks with my whole family. I love Christmas. 

We leave bright and early tomorrow morning, we'll drive to San Clemente and pick up my (this is about to get complicated) Brother-in-law Dan's, Dad's suburban. He is letting us borrow it for the trip. Next stop is Santa Clarita where I'll pick up Dan and my sister Deb. Katie got to fly up early with the boys, and Jessie already lives there.... anyways, (how confusing was that!) 

So it's going to be 13 hours in the car for Kyle, Dan, Deb and me. The boys are in for a treat! Deb and I are a blast on road trips! ;-) The way home will be even better since we'll be adding Katie and their two boys with us. 


(ok, total side note right now. I was singing the song over the mountains and through the woods in my head because it's the title of this post.. and i realize it could be "Over the Mountain and TO the Woods! hahahaha if you met me after I got married my maiden name is Wood. Wow I'm a dork, and clearly a little excited about going to Idaho) 


I might post when I'm home, I might not.. so if I don't I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope that you enjoy your family, friend and that you remember that as fun as the festivities are the Holiday is really about Jesus being born, so that He could die for our sins and rise again! What a glorious Savior!


Merry Christmas!!!

tall diaries update

Like the title says, there has been a tall diaries update

Not Pregnant, Period.

WARNING: Highly Emotional Woman About to Blog

I'm pretty sure only close friends and family read this blog, so I'm going to share this story. If, by chance you are someone I don't know, well, don't take this very seriously. 

I have mentioned a time or two how patient Kyle is. Well, if you doubted me, today takes the cake! I'm a little late this month, a week late to be exact. So I took a little pregnancy test. 

Let me back up, Kyle and I are NOT trying for children right now. We would love to be married a little longer than 6 months and be more financially stable before we try for kids... ok, back to the present.

I took a pregnancy test. It came back Negative. 

I called Kyle to tell him. He said "Well, that's kind of a relief. I mean I would be stoked to be a father no matter what, but we're not really ready for kids right now." 

My response: I started crying.

Kyle: Bek, why are you crying? is everything ok?

Me: "yeah, I was just kind of prepared to be pregnant all morning, now I'm not"

Kyle: "Wait, you want to be pregnant? You want kids now?"

Me: "No"

Kyle: "I'm confused, whats the problem then? we'll have kids someday"

Me: "Wah. Wah. Wah" (still crying)

Kyle: "I'm thinking that you are really not pregnant, maybe your about to start? are you ok?"

Me: " It's ok, you wouldn't understand?"

Kyle: "I thought we talked about this. We were on the same page about when we wanted kids. When did you decide you wanted them now?"

Me: "I don't. I just was kind of psyching myself up for being pregnant, just in case I was.. Now I'm not, it's sort of disappointing."

Kyle: "I don't get it. At all. But I love you!"


Has any other newlywed had a moment like this? 

   On a less psychotic note: 17 days until Christmas! try listening to Mariah Carey (Holiday) on Pandora. I think it's my favorite Christmas Radio station so far. 

Bekki's "Pinterest"

I am going to be in Idaho for the majority of the Holidays and so we are doing very limited decorating around our apartment this year. Because of this I'm having Christmas decorating withdrawls. I have decided to show you a couple of things that I would do to my house if I indeed had a house, or was home for the Holidays to decorate. 

Basically this is my little version of Pinterest. 

love this

My grandma loves these! I used to poke myself with those stupid things every year. But now it's a fun memory

Christmas lights are ALWAYS a good choice

Stockings

I got a package in the mail from my aunt (my mom's youngest sister) a couple of days ago. In the package were some sweet things along with two stockings for Kyle and I. 

My sisters and I have had the same stockings since we were.... well our whole lives as far as I can remember. 

My aunt (my mom's second sister) cross-stitched them for us, so it feels only natural that our first stockings as a married couple should also be made for us by an aunt!

 My sister also has a blog and today she wrote about another family tradition.. our Chrsitmas tree. You can read all about it at houseofbussell.blogspot.com

Well I promised pictures from tennessee, here are a few. I realized after I uploaded them that I took a LOT! so I am only showing a few.

decorations at the factory... The factory is this old factory turned into a business/shopping center it's also where the church and reception were

corinna, steph, jamie

steph's favorite place. Williams Sonoma

corinna with maid of honor jessi

bachelorette party part one

grand old opry

breakfast and coffee at stephs favorite coffee shop FIDO, wedding morning

Home

I am finally home with my hubby! I missed him so much. I realized how much more I like traveling with him. We haven't traveled much apart from each other since we started dating. While in Tennessee I would experience something and my first reaction would be to want to tell Kyle all about it. 

He picked me up from the airport today and took me out to lunch and then home. We couldn't stop smiling. It was fun to see him be excited to see me. He told me I was silly for not realizing he missed me as much as I missed him. 

He asked me all about the trip: Who I met, how I was able to help Steph and the people there, he asked all about how Steph was doing, and on and on.

That is something I really love about Kyle. He has made it a point to love the people in my life and make them his friends as well. I also love how he encourages me to be a good friend. He let me rush out the door early on Tuesday without even saying goodbye so that I could be with my friend. He told me he would miss me, that he loves me, but that this is what we have wanted. We were blessed to be served so well during our wedding and we wanted to be able to pass that on.

Stephanie was a breathtaking bride. It was so great to spend time with her and the bridal party! I have some fun wedding and Tennessee stories but I will share them over the next couple of day, hopefully with some pictures.

I'm ready to dive back into the Christmas Spirit. I'm hanging stockings tonight.  Kyle and I are looking forward to our next adventure, time in Idaho with family over the holidays. 

Here is a fun version of Carol of the Bells for you.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vNcGlM8O3I
also, Kyle and I watched the santa clause the other day.. remember that movie with Tim Allen... So fun!

Opryland/Friday

Things have been a whirlwind here. Steph and I have been running errands like crazy. I was thrilled to get to spend the week with her and help as much as she needed, but when we pulled up to the airport to pick up the other bridesmaids it was like a breath of fresh air. They had energy and were smiling and ready to breath some life into the tired bride and I.

We haven't stopped laughing!

We went out to a fun dinner last night. (Thank you so much Mr. Pannell) We laughed some more and then went to Opryland.

Oh Opryland... a great time. And maybe an embarrassing one. We have to do a dance off at the wedding. Yes, a dance of. No, we don't want to. Really, not one of the girls wants to do it, but this is Paul's dream. So we are submitting to the groom for a moment and going to do a dance off. 

I got inspired while listening to a version of Carol of the Bells. Sooooo I started choreographing our dance right there in Opryland.  People stared, we laughed, people laughed. It was a good time. 

Now for the Rehearsal day. Mani's and Pedi's, and more of helping the bride. "Your wish is my command" :) Honestly she's one of the best brides I've ever been around. 

I'll post pictures when I can.