Merry Christmas 2014

Hello lovelies! 

I know you are all wondering where in the world i have been.... well i wish i had something awesome to tell you -- but i have been in my apartment with Seth (LittleGuy) being a momma and loving this pregnancy. 

Today, I am enjoying the day celebrating the birth of our Savior with my beautiful family.  LittleGuy received so many amazing gifts from family and is currently napping (or in a sugar coma). 

MrV is playing with his little brother's new XboxOne getting lost in the Shadows of Mordor. 

I just finished my 4th cup of eggnog (don't judge me) and typing on my brand new ipad that MrV totally surprised me with! 

My in laws are all watching The Hobbit -- which i am not a total fan of. lol. 

Asher (LittleMan in my tummy) is kicking like crazy (probably wants more eggnog). 

We are thoroughly enjoying this Holiday and I am a little sad for the day when MrV returns to work next week and the magic is gone. 

May today (and everyday) be filled with laughter, the joy of Christ, smiles, and love! 

christmas sweets, mugs full of eggnog, and love. - MrsV

Leaving on a jet plane & a graduating niece.

Happy Friday lovelies!!!

My beautiful niece is graduating high school in one week and my sister blessed me and bought my plane ticket. I will be flying to California on Sunday morning. I still cannot believe she is that old!

Awh... when she was little.

I am only 8 years older then my niece so we grew up in a very different relationship then the normal aunt-niece relationship. Its kind of like I have two sisters - my sister and my niece. hehe. We were really close growing up and she was my maid of honor at my wedding (my sister was my matron of honor -- I had two of honors).
I am extremely proud of her and so excited for this next season in her life! She is a beautiful young woman who will do amazing things! (: 
 __ . __ . __ . __

I am actually sad to leave Martin for 8 days. We are still newlyweds and this will be the farthest that I have been away from him. I have been a housewife since we have been in Alabama and I am just hoping my house doesn't fall apart while I am gone. Hehe.

I have never traveled this far alone before so I am a little bit nervous too... but I really am excited to see my family! My brothers' birthday is June 4th, so I am hoping I can see them too! (:

Happy weekend! (:

Air travels and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

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Oklahoma!

We are staying in Oklahoma with my aunt and cousins for a few days. It has really been fun. (:

God has been blessing our time with my family. Martin even got some lights on the car fixed with my cousins husband. (:

We hair been having a lot of fun playing games with my little cousins too. I haven't seen these cousins for about two years.

Oklahoma love. - Monica

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Day four. Texas to Oklahoma

We got into Oklahoma yesterday. It was our shortest drive. We are visiting my family for a few days. (: Another blessed day of driving.

Lord, I praise You again for protecting my husband and I. Continue to bless our time and vehicle. (: In Jesus Name Amen.

Family time and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥

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cleaving and memories.

"Therefor shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." 

Genesis 2:24 (KJV)

That verse has been on my mind a lot lately. With hubby and I leaving in about 5 days it is making the phrase "leave and cleave" a lot more real. We are about to leave our families and everything that we are familiar with and to completely cling to one another and our Lord. 

We are about to truly learn what the Lord meant when he spoke this over Adam and Eve for the future husbands and wives. 

We are excited for this new season in our lives and we are expectantly waiting on God. 

Packing is pretty much done. It took about 2 days straight of constant packing. I procrastinated a little and found some pictures that are dear to me. 

This is my Papa so lovingly placing his hand on my Gram while she blew out some birthday candles (as i joined her). I adore how the love between my Gram and Papa is so incredibly evident. 

I would see them bicker from time to time (especially when my Papa would open up the pot that my Gram was cooking in. hehe) but their love was always true. They are an inspiration to me. They would be married over 60 years if they were still alive today. I wore my Gram's 40th anniversary ring as my 'something old' at my wedding. 

These are my twin little brothers outside my Gram's house. I am not sure how old they were here... probably about 4 maybe. They are sooo stinking cute! They are 21 years old now. I love them sooo soo much and miss them lots! They can be little terrors but my sisterly love for them never alters. 

This is from the same day as the last one with my Gram and Papa. This is my Gram, myself, and my baby brother (all 49-ered out hehe. My Papa was a fan too.. I know he would get along with my hubby) at my Gram's house. We ALWAYS had every birthday party here! Our whole family would cram into the house that my Papa built in the 70s and have dinner, cake, and argue over who would do the dishes. Every Christmas and Thanksgiving memory of my childhood was held at my Gram's house. A million special memories that bring small swells of tears to my eyes even as I type this. 

I love and miss you Gram and Papa! 

fond memories, new memories, and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥ 

world market and new babies

I had a wonderful weekend. :) 

It was my 5 month wedding anniversary and so my husband and i celebrated with Disney Monopoly. 

He let me win.. hehe. :) I am a good loser (i lose every.single.time. i play nerts with my husband and in-laws lol) but it was sweet that he still let me win. :)


The next day i went shopping with my sister-in-law. At first we went to Target. I just love that and could spend hours in it! She needed to buy a purse but we didn't find anything good... so we went to JCPenney to see their selection of handbags. She found one and it was off to dream at Best Buy.

I found TWO things that i REALLY wanted! A Hello Kitty blow dryer and a Hello Kitty Blue Tooth (both things i really need) :)

After drooling at all the stuff i cannot buy we decided to covet some more at World Market.

It was funny because for some reason ( i still dont know why) they were giving away free hot dogs.

When we were walking i noticed that they also sold hot dogs in a jar. eeww!!!

But all we bought were Japanese sodas!

Of course mine was a Hello Kitty kind!

I also found a sparkly mask that i wore around for a little while. :)

Life is just so fun with sparkly masks on! :) I also liked these little doll-things!

Although they did look like they needed a hug.
If you want to have fun and kill some time.. head over to World Market and just look around! They have amazing stuff!!!!

After dreaming we went back to my in-law's house and i finished doing our laundry there (so thankful for them!!!).
That night we had a delicious dinner with good family/friends who married us. :) They are an amazing man and woman of God and it is always sooo encouraging and lovely to spend time with their family. They just had a little girl 11 weeks ago and so my heart was overflowing with joy! We are truly blessed to call them friends!

good friends, fun masks, and love.  - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

our road trip as Mr. & Mrs.

Martin and i had a lovely New Years Eve. We decided it was FINALLY time to take our first road trip as husband and wife and make the looonnngg (a whole 2 hours) trip to visit my sister. (which we realized when we got there that Martin hasn't been there since BEFORE he left for school in So Cal).

Saturday we woke up with NOTHING ready to go. We weren't packed. We didn't even have clean laundry. I told my sister we would be there AT noon.... needless to say that did not happen.
Martin got up and had to start a load of laundry (which quickly turned into two loads) and get a haircut. I jumped, sprung, slowly got up and started to clean the kitchen so it wasn't a MESS when we returned. After that i hopped in the shower while Martin finished our dirty wet laundry. I had to time to straighten my  hair and do makeup! Its amazing how sslllooowww laundry can take!

Martin bought me this new shirt... i wasn't too sure about it.. but now i think i am in love! I thought i looked like a farmer... but at least i look like a cute farmer! hehe

He actually bought my entire outfit. hehe. He's good. :)

But.. i can give myself credit for my oh-so-simple hairstyle. hehe. :)

After laundry was all finished and tummies were full of food, we headed off.

Our radio doesn't usually work (i think we need new speakers) but for some odd amazing reason it worked the majority of the ride there. So my hubby and i grooved, sang, and were silly for 2 hours.
Being a girl.. i tried to start serious conversations... but he asked if we could just have fun. hehe. :) I agreed and joined him in singing and dancing to the radio. I am glad i have him to remind me to be silly. ;) Although this is him being serious driving..because the roads were starting to get icy.

When we arrived in the mountains the temperature DROPPED! And we were surrounded by beautiful pine trees!

Do you like the crack in my windshield? hehe.. i really need to get that fixed.

When we got to my sister's house my nephew ran as fast as he could to.... Martin. Yup, my husband is apparently his new favorite. hehe. But i still got some hugs and kisses.

But he quickly returned to "Mar-TIN". (he pronounces the 'tin' part very distinctive.. it is soo stinking cute!)

Then he, of course, had to show off all of his new stuff he got from Santa.

He really loved this watch he got. It had a little light and would shine different little aliens on the wall. He would NOT take it off! hehe. And every picture he took he wanted to show it off. lol. He took it off to play with Martin some more and had me wear it. He was all kinds of excited when it fit me. hehe. He made sure to tell everyone around him that his watch "fit Auntie too"!

My sister cooked an amazing meal of tri-tip and crab! Sooo good! and then we had cheesecake and carrot cake for dessert.
My nephew and husband played the (old school) Super Mario Bros game on AJ's gameboy. hehe. My nephew cant really play.. but was amazed when Mar-TIN "beat the game" (he only beat one level.. but AJ was soo happy!)

At about 9:30pm we all headed out to my sister's friends house for a New Year's Eve party. Although stuff like that isn't really my thing... it was still pretty fun.
Of course i probably looked silly with my giant Hello Kitty purse (which Martin eventually put it in the car.. because i kept it on all night lol) and my red cup of the kid's punch. hehe. No shame though. lol. :)
At 11pm we went home because my brother-in-law had to work early the next morning.
At home we watched Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve and drank some DELICIOUS Starbucks peppermint hot cocoa with my sister's homemade marshmallow.

That was probably the highlight of New years Eve. I love just snuggling on the couch with hot cocoa! I don't really enjoy "going out". I'd rather hang out and play board games, sipping hot chocolate, listening to music with my loved ones. i know.. i am probably boring. hehe. but i like it.

At midnight we said our happy new years.. and after Martin stopped coughing (he got a tickle in his throat RIGHT at midnight haha) i had my FIRST ever New Years kiss! :) 

It was a really great first New Years as a new wife. :) 

The next morning was the 49er game and so my sister made her brother-in-law an amazing football meal!

She is such a wonderful cook!!! :)

After the game we talked for a little while and packed up and headed back home. :)
Arriving to town the sky was sooo beautiful!!!

We had SUCH a fun road trip together. :)

I am sooo excited for the new 2012 year! My resolution is to continue to get closer to the Lord, be love everywhere i go, and cherish my marriage.

new years, short road trips, and love. - M
♥  . ♥ . ♥