New Blog

Sorry we’ve been so silent, we’ve been busy moving stuff over to our new blog. We won’t be updating our blogger page (joyandmark.blogspot.com) anymore, so change your favorites to check our blog here at www.thestoners.com

We’ve been back for a week and have tried to get back into the swing of things at work. We spent a good part of the weekend cleaning and organizing here at the house. We were really busy in December so a few of the closets and drawers were not as tidy as I like them (yes, I’m sure I’m way more sensitive than most but it feels good to have things back in order).
I’ll try to get some pictures up this week. Didn’t want to overwhelm you with a new blog look AND pictures - didn’t want to provide you with too much visual stimulation :o)

Pictures...or not...

The connection where we're staying is r.e.a.l.l.y s.l.o.w. so loading pictures is really a painfully slow process. It took me at least 5 minutes just to upload these. So, I'm not going to try to upload the other ones I have - just think of these as an appetizer for now. Once we get a better connection, I'll get some other ones on here and put all of them in our online album.

For now....these are pictures of our drive from Montrose to Grand Junction, Colo.

Quick Update

Here's a snapshot of the last week:
- made it through the ice storm to Texas where we flew out to Colorado
- surprised my sister for her 40th (and it was a true surprise - she cried, awww)
- went to my nephew's Christmas Band Concert to watch him play the clarinet
- picked the kids up at school several times and delivered goodies to their teachers (we're never around while they're in school so it was fun to be involved in that part of their lives)
- lived in a house with 1 dog (and 1 visiting during the day), 2 cats, 2 turtles, 1 fish, and a partridge in a pear tree (well, minus the last one).
- successfully pulled off my sister's surprise party (poor thing, all she wanted to do was spend time with us and all we wanted/needed to do was plan her party)
- learned the waltz, the two-step, the t.a.n.g.o (we learned the steps by spelling it out - effective, I must say), and the polka at the party (the couple doing the music taught us ballroom dancing)
- stood in a boarding area of the airport for almost two hours with no bathrooms
- made it to Texas this afternoon and are now at Mark's grandma's house enjoying time with family and especially his parents, who are here from Brazil.

All in all it was a great week and we're looking forward to the week ahead. I know that I promised pictures of the centerpieces and we have some great ones of our trip last week, so I'll try to get on tomorrow and post those. It's already after 11pm so I should probably not even get started tonight....

Snowing...

Yep, it's snowing. Quite a bit actually. And it's falling almost horizontally - not so good. It's sticking to the grass, but nothing on the roads yet.
I'm sitting here in the Student Center waiting for my second reception of the day to begin. We had one this morning (so I was here at 8am to take my staff to breakfast -- the caf is closed already -- and then set-up for the 11am reception), broke it down, and reset for the one to start at 4pm.
So it's 3:15 and I'm sitting in the building babysitting my centerpieces. I can't leave or they will. Somebody stole one of my cylinders this morning and the lady from the bookstore caught a girl trying to put my string of cranberries from the buffet into her purse (!) She politely told her that we needed to reuse those for the afternoon reception. :o)
I'll post pictures later. It's all cranberries in water and white flowers. Looks sharp. And the punch: cranberry, of course.

Happy Birthday, Boys!

Today is our youngest nephew's birthday. Cody turned 1 today and we're sure that he has grown tons from when we saw him in July. Man, time flies. Happy Birthday, Cody!

It was also my dad's birthday last weekend (on the 8th - right in the middle of my avalanche of events), but he's more than 1, he probably hasn't grown tons since the last time we saw him, and I don't know if I have cute little pictures of him sleeping like I do of Cody, but still wanted to say it on here.... So, Happy Birthday, Dad.

It's raining here. Still. I was out shopping for centerpieces today - yes, got two events this weekend - and it was raining the whole time. Not fun trying to run across the parking lot carrying flowers. At least it can't hurt them to get watered...

I'll try to post pictures. I still haven't pulled the pictures off from last weekend but I'll do it and get them on here or on the other blog.

Still here

Thanks for loving us enough to check in and see if we made it through last week. We did, obviously, but boy was it a crazy one. I soaked my feet in hot water at night because my feet were hurting so bad. They were so happy to wear the little ballet flats to work today...

The ice strom missed us. It's been raining a lot and there's ice hanging from branches, street signs, and mailboxes, but it's not bad like in parts of Oklahoma.

Well...time to go home - just wanted to prove we were still here. We're having tomato soup and grilled cheese tonight for dinner. It's the perfect evening for it - dark, cold, rainy.....

Last Weekend, This Weekend, & The Craziness Between

The marriage conference was great. We learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and what that means in our marriage. We stayed at the hotel where the conference was and really enjoyed it. Great rooms and a wonderful breakfast. I told Mark that if we had to drive the 45 minutes back and forth when it was over at 10pm on Friday and had to be back by 8am the next morning, we might need that conference more than we thought :o)

After the conference, we went for training to be a part of the Early Childhood Ministries at church. We'll be "teaching" a class of 9-12 month olds starting in January. No curriculum, obviously, but we're still called teachers... Then, we stayed for church, went out do dinner with friends, went to the square to see all the lights - sorry no camera - and then went and finished all the Christmas and December Birthdays Shopping. Hurray for us.

And that was just Saturday....

Sunday we had a really lazy day - home group and decorating the house in the evening. I only did the mantel, the entertainment armoire, and the dining room table. I FINALLY got my rosemary tree this year. I've been wanting one for years and we had never gotten around to it. Since we're not putting the tree up this year: going to Texas for Christmas + no little ones around to bug us about not having a tree = enjoying not having to do something if we won't be around to enjoy it much (what? I have a non pre-lit 9 ft tree and a bazillion ornaments...you would find a way to take a break too... :o)....) Anyway, I digress - since we don't have a Christmas tree, I wanted the little rosemary tree on the mantel. It looks so cute. The stockings are hung and all the Christmas gifts are wrapped and sitting prettily on the living room floor. You would think our lives are peaceful...

Except that this is the crazy week: I am planning 6 events this week, attending 5 events that I thankfully do not have to plan, playing at least 1 indoor soccer game (semi-finals) so hopefully 2, and generally trying to not be "bah-humbugging" by Sunday....

If you don't hear from me before Christmas, at least you know where your Christmast gift is.