News Year's Resolutions

Every December, Chris and I start working on what we want to improve about ourselves in the coming year.  I love writing down goals because it helps hold me accountable.  We print out the resolutions and tape them somewhere where we will see them every day. This year, they hung in our closet and I'm sure that's where we'll put the next list!  We keep every list from the previous years and it's always fun to go back and look at our goals.  We did pretty good this past year!

I know everyone will be blogging about their New Year's resolutions. It's just so fun to see what other people write and maybe get some new ideas!!

I just copy and pasted this from My Documents. Just wanted to share how we write out our goals!!!!

Enjoy!

New Year's Resolutions 2010

Maintain Weight: GOAL  < or = to 155

Jan_____  Feb_____ Mar_____  Apr_____  May_____  June_____  July_____  Aug_____  Sept_____  Oct_____  Nov_____  Dec_____


Read 12 Fiction Books

___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___ 


Read 5 Nonfiction Books

___  ___  ___  ___  ___


Read 3 Biblical Books

___  ___  ___

Read 2 Biographies

___  ___


Volunteer for 3 Organizations

1.

2.

3.

Learn about different religions

___Catholicism
___Buddhism
___Judaism
___Hinduism
___Mormonism


Running: 200 Miles by 2011

Jan: ___    Apr:  ___      Jul:  ___    Oct: ___
Feb: ___    May: ___     Aug: ___    Nov:  ___
Mar: ___    Jun: ___    Sept:  ___    Dec:  ___

Be able to do 20 Push-ups by the end of the year:

By May: 15  ___
By Dec: 20  ___

Memorize 12 Bible Verses

1.               4.               7.               10.          
2.               5.               8.               11.
3.               6.               9.               12.


PLACES TO VISIT

Day Trips:
Cincinnati
Columbus, OH: Franklin Park Conservatory, COSI- 1:15 Hours
Mansfield, OH: Creation Museum- 2:20 Hours
Dayton: Boonshoft Museum, Packard Museum (Cars), SunWatch Indian Village, Oregon District, Riverscape Park, Carillon Park


Weekend Trips
Great Wolf Lodge- Mason, Ohio- 45 Mins
Berlin Lake- Berlin Center, Ohio- 3:30 Hours
Marblehead Lighthouse- Marblehead, Ohio- 3:30 hours
Cleveland, Oh: Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Botanical Garden, Amish Country, Riverboat Cruise- 3:20 Hours
Canton, OH: NFL Hall of Fame, Al-Bi Winery, Chocolate Factory, Cheese Factory- 3:20 Hours
Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Museum, Children's Museum, Mt. Washington, National Aviary- 4 Hours
Indianapolis, IN: Crown Hill Cemetery, Scottish Rite Cathedral, Indiana War Memorial, Zoo- 2 Hours
Chicago- 4:30 Hours
Michigan: Mackinaw Island- 7:30 Hours

Christmas with The Trobough's

What an awesome Christmas!!! Not only did we get awesome presents, but Jesus' birthday makes it even better. We attended a beautiful Christmas Eve service last night at the Methodist church in Jasper.  We sand Christmas carols and the pastor reenacted Jesus' birth coming from the Shepard's perspective.

We were so blessed with so many gifts this morning.  Whitley Claire had loads of fun too!! She loved tearing the wrapping paper off! But was bored after a few presents!  She got a gorgeous bible, Little People's Noah's Ark, wooden blocks that will last forever, a fun pop up toy, some books, and a few stocking stuffers. I hope we can get it all in the car for the trip back to Ohio!

We finished Christmas Day with a delicious meal made by Deb and me. Pork tenderloins, mashed potatoes, red pepper carrots, roasted asparagus, rolls, corn, butter beans, and in a few minutes, we will be enjoying the chocolate mousse pie. YUMMY!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas!!!! Merry Christmas from the Trobough's!!

Christmas with The Whitley's

This week we had Christmas with my side of the family. It has been an eventful 4 days here in Jackson. We spent Friday just relaxing because we didn't want to ride ANYWHERE after being in the car for 2 days! On Saturday we drove to Ruleville, MS for my cousins wedding. It was so nice and such a sweet ceremony. I can't believe Mary got married!!! I was thinking on the drive there that she is too young to get married....but I was thinking about it and that's how old I was when I got married! I just picture her as this little girl still and not a beautiful woman! Sunday we went to church and saw a bunch of old friends. They were amazed at how much WC has grown since this summer. WC was not in the best of moods. She has just started the whole arching the back and squealing routine...not cute! Sunday night I was able to enjoy a night with my girlfriends from high school....well a few of them anyway! We went and ate at Margaritas. It was good fun to see friends! I miss them so! Yesterday we ate lunch with Dana and went to her husbands basketball game. He coaches at Velma Jackson in Camden and they were in a tournament at Ridgeland High School. That was fun to watch! Then we just relaxed the rest of the afternoon and Dana, Russell, and Jackson came over for dinner. We are yummy meatloaf and veggies and then Swedish apple pie for deserst! Mmm Mmm good!!

We had a great time opening up presents. Whitley Claire was just a doll and in the best mood. She loved  opening the presents. I don't think she cared for the toys that much....she just wanted to bang on the boxes and tear the paper! She got some bath toys, a ball popper, a sit and spin Zebra thingy, and a few other little toys. Chris got a new game for his PS3, a giftcard to Penny's, and a few other little things!  I got some cooking items, FOOTED PJ's :), long underwear, a pretty cross, a watch, and a Micheal's giftcard. We are so blessed to receive such awesome gifts!

So today we are off to Jasper, AL to spend Christmas with Chris' family! I'm wondering how all this is going to fit in our SUV....so we shall see :)

Sexiest PJ's EVER! Don't be jealous......

You know you want a pair....or if you have some, you wished you looked as cute as I do in these AWESOME Bunny PJ Footies. I feel like I'm 2 years old again. However, it's an odd piece of clothing to wear....since I'm already gigantic, these PJ's are a weird fit. Just a little tight in some uncomfortable places????? I will be wearing these a lot in Ohio. I was sad that it was too hot to wear them here in the south.

Aren't I just the cutest bunny you ever did see?

1920's Highchair!

This is such a great highchair! My mom bought this a few months before I was born. It was made in 1920! I love it :) She has learned how to stand up backwards in the highchair. That's how old it is...there's no straps! It's such a beautiful peace of furniture and I'm excited that WC gets to use it!

Momma's Makeup

Whitley Claire's favorite new toy is my makeup bag. She goes absolutely berserk when she sees that leopard print bag. I'll unzip it for her and in a matter of seconds, the whole bag is dumped out :) A few of her favorites in the bag is the mirror, blush brush, foundation sponge, and eyeliner. I hate to break it to her, but she won't be wearing makeup for a looooooooong time!

Happy Bday to the best MIL

In case your not as cool as I am, MIL stands for "mother-in-law". :) Yes! Today is her bday! And guess what? Her awesome present that we all pitched in and that I ordered never made it to their house in Alabama this week. Total bummer! I am really mad at Bed Bath & Beyond! I have called and emailed...called and emailed. And no one will get back with me. I'm tempted to ask for a refund? Of at least a refund on my UPS moola.
I LOVE this tea kettle. It's from the Paula Deen collection. Deb is a very earth tone kind of person and I thought this would fit her perfectly :) We also got her a kitchen timer because she hasn't had one in forever. And when I'm there helping with the cooking and I ask her how long something has been in, she never knows! ha!

So I feel bad that she didn't have any presents to open up on her bday. Hopefully it will come before we get there on Wednesday!

HGTV is the best medicine

I miss my house in Cabot soooo much! I hope that the renters are treating it nicely :) Isn't it an awesome house! Here it is to the left during a rare "snow storm" in Cabot!

Since we are living in "base housing" here, we can't really do a whole lot and I've been watching HGTV a lot this week because I haven't been feeling well. I would love to just go wild with this place. Put up crown molding, bead board, and some other thing....I think I am brainwashed by this channel. Whenever I watch these design shows, I have all this inspiration....then when it actually comes to painting a room, I just go with my comfort colors: green and brown. You can never go wrong with these! Our living room is brown and so is WC's. Our bedroom, downstairs bath, and sunroom are green. Those are such soothing colors to us! I would love to do something different, but we are so textbook and afraid. And I wish all this decorating stuff was free.....it can get really expensive! Our goal when we first moved to Dayton was to put together a room once a month. That way we don't go overboard and stick with a budget. For the most part :)That's our bedroom here in Dayton...we've added some pictures above the bed and on the far right wall. I LOVE this room. So calming!

What are your favorite colors and designs? My new favorite pallet is lavender, silver, and black. I love those colors together!

New Favorites

I just wanted to share what our family has been enjoying lately!!

Whitley Claire's new favorite thing to do is open up doors/cabinets and pull EVERYTHING out! I let her do it, so I guess I can't complain? It is one thing that keeps her busy for a long time and I don't mind picking up after her...for now. I usually just wait until the end of the day to pick up everything because if I picked up when she was through, she'd be right back at it in a few hours. I will have to go buy some cabinet locks for the ones I don't want her in. For example, the cabinet under the sink! I noticed it had been quite for about a minute, and I went in to the kitchen to find Whitley Claire holding my Clorox kitchen cleaner and my BarMaids. One in each hand and looking mighty happy! She also loves pulling out all the DVD's :) I love watching her study each one!

I have been enjoying the cold weather and comfy clothes. I love to get bundled up in the house and just relax on the couch. Also my holiday candles are soooo yummy smelling throughout the house. I have a peppermint plug in, pumpkin candle, cocoa candle, and the a "holiday" scent candle. I have one going in each room so it's a different smell wherever you go.
I also love laying by the Christmas Tree. I keep the lights on until we go to bed. It gives our living room such a nice glow!

Chris has been enjoying his PS3 a lot. A WHOLE LOT! Ha! He has been playing the College Football game daily and has fun playing with his friends online. I am glad that he has something that he likes to do around the house and he's very good about making sure I didn't want to watch anything before he plays. He's very courteous!
He is also enjoying reading lots of books and keeping current with the news. The Wall Street Journal is a favorite and also books about the human mind and psychology.

We are looking forward to Christmas Vacation. He leave on the 16th and will be back in Dayton on the 27th!!!

Creationism VS. Evolution

My newest interest has become the on of the most talked about controversies in the world. I am a Christian and a firm believer that God placed Jesus Christ on this earth and that He died for our sins. I believe the Bible is accurate and true, and there is only one God.

Now that I have made that clear, what is your belief when it comes to Creationism VS. Evolution? There are many questions that I have had lately....so I'm reading this book called Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction by Euguenie C. Scott. I am pretty sure that he leans toward the Evolution/Natural Selection theories, but he shows the facts to both sides without being too biased.

Some of the things that Mr. Scott writes about are different kinds of evolutionists and creationists. There is so much information in this book, that it overwhelms me. I just want to know more about this issue so when asked questions about why I believe what I believe , I can give a more definite answer. I believe there is NO way that this earth could've just "popped up" without an "intelligent designer". There are too many things in this world that didn't happen by chance; which is a big saying with Evolutionists. For example: the human eye and waterproof feathers on ducks. How did those things just happen to evolve through time through natural selection?

Another big topic is how old the earth actually is....did Creation really take place in 6 days where the days were 24 hours? Or did the Creation actually take millions of years? Creationists say the earth is somewhere between 6,000 to 10,000 years old...Evolutionists say the earth is billions and billions of years old. Was there a gap in time? Some people argue that the time lapse between Genesis 1 (the Creation) and Genesis 2 (Adam and Eve) was quite a long time.

Just wanted to hear everyone's view on these topics. I am welcome to all thoughts :)

Oh Microwave, Oh Microwave....

Where hast though been?? In case you didn't know, we've been a microwave free house since we moved to Dayton last Thanksgiving. For the past year, we've had to adjust to reheating and cooking everything in the oven or on the stove. It hasn't been too bad, you just have to plan ahead of time when you want to eat leftovers or anything!

Our sweet friends, the Hollen's, are moving to Atlanta next week and I just happened to mention at small group that we didn't have a microwave and Amy offered us theirs!! How nice right?? So a BIG thanks to them for letting us have their super clean microwave.So why you might ask would we want one now...when we've gone over a year without one? Well, I should say why would I want one because Chris nixed the idea. It was just a little difficult timing when WC would want to eat and then working around that and the oven to warm up her meals. She doesn't want to wait 15 minutes for her food, so she would fill up on cheerios or graham crackers and then not eat what I fixed her. Tonight she had warm broccoli and cheese soup and she ate a very generous portion!

Woo hoo for my new microwave :)