Long time, no post!

Well, I just looked at the last time I posted anything and it was JAN 13, 2011!!! PEOPLE! Today is JAN 5, 2012! Why in the world have I not written on my blog?? We all know its not because I had nothing to say. Who knows. All I know is I'm back and will hopefully stay a little more consistent.

2011 was overall a pretty good year for us. Brody is growing up WAY too fast. He started 3 yr old preschool at a cute little school in Benton. Hes getting too big for his britches =) I'm realizing more and more every day that he got Jason's amazing good looks and my crazy personality. Which I will admit there are some great things about my personality, but there are a few things that I'm seeing come out in Brody that make me want to go lock myself in a closet and wait until he grows out of it, if ever! Please tell me I'm not alone! This toddler phase is my absolute favorite so far but it is hard, hard, hard. My mom always said "You'll pay for your raising". Well momma, I'm paying for my raising! I cant complain though. Brody makes me forget every negative thing he does or says when he tells me he wants to go buy me flowers, that I'm his best friend ever, that I'm SO beautiful, when he puts others first, and when he talks about Jesus. He totally melts my heart all the time.

Jason and I are in such a great place in our marriage. I really don't know what I would do without him! I'm convinced there's no one else that would put up with me (AND vice versa, haha) I love knowing hes the one the Lord chose for me and I love him more than ever. We will be married 9 years this summer. We are definitely old married people and have the wrinkles and expanding waists to prove it! (and MAYBE a couple gray hairs).

One of the biggest things that happened this year was my mom got married! I know a lot of you know all the details, but its so neat to look back and see Gods hand in all of it. After 5 years of my dad being gone, Mom went from thinking she might be single the rest of her life to meeting an AMAZING man and being married within 9 months of meeting him. The Lord had been preparing her heart and mine too. Terry is such a blessing to me. He has filled that void in my heart for a father figure. He even sent me flowers the other day "just because!" I love knowing that my mom is taken care of, loved, pampered, and happy. Terry has 2 kids and 2 grandkids so our family get togethers are a little bigger than they used to be! The bigger the better!

On a personal note, this is the first time in a long time that Ive felt the Lord speaking to me about a few different things. Or maybe he's always speaking, I'm just not listening.  I'm really excited to see what he has in store for me and my little family this year. Its a good feeling being able to trust him and know that any plans that I make don't even compare to what he has for me. Now if I can just follow HIS plan! =)

Im thankful for a great 2011, and looking forward to an even better 2012!!

Feeling DissaROUXtional

THIS is why I stick to SIMPLE meals!

I have just attempted to make "Gumbo Ya Ya" (only because it said "YaYa" in it, one of my fav restaurants). You must know that I am more of a Chef Boy R Dee/ Fishsticks & Macaroni kind of girl. I was really going out on a limb when I decided to make this because Ive heard Gumbo is one of those "High Maintenance" meals, the TOTAL opposite of the Chef Boy. I read all the reviews, all the tips, rolled up my sleeves and took step one. Well 159 steps and 2 hours later, my broth was ready. Then I moved on to the chopping. I have never in my life chopped so many vegetables. By the end of it I had tears rolling down my face. Not happy tears, but tears from the fumes of 2 cups of onions I had to chop. When cutting onions, how in the world does it get all the way up to your eyes and burn the daylights out of them!? Now time for the ROUX! Ive heard its ALL about the roux. After switching off and on with Jason "stirring continuously" for 45 mintues, the Roux was done. In those 45 minutes, sweet little Jason spilled water in my chicken broth that took 2 hours to make, our stirring got a little out of control and spilled ALL over the burner, and now I have carpal tunnel from all the stirring. **Just for reference, I think were at 3 hours here** After burning the roux all over my stove top, I had to get it cleaned up. Im feeling a little lethargic at this point. I should have had a high carb meal for this cooking marathon. I get out my special stove top cleaner that takes ANYTHING off! At least thats what the bottle says. I put an ungodly amount of it on there. I guess I should have stopped pouring it on when I saw it starting to boil. Needless to say, my stove top has 3 black burners and one white one now.

Its 10:50 PM, it has 10 more minutes to cook. I have to go chop green onions, parsley, peel shrimp and de-bone the stupid chicken. Unless Jason literally falls out of his chair and almost passes out because this is so good, Im probably going to mark gumbo ya ya off my list.

Testing, Testing.....

Here are just a few pictures of Me and my boys. Looking back at when Brody was a baby makes me so sad! I cant even believe how fast time has gone by. I thought these were cute and wanted to share them! (plus I like the way my hair is blowing in the breeze in the one above)

Well its official!! I have a BLOG!! I honestly think it took me about 10 hours to finally get this thing up. I even had big plans for dinner! I was going to make Gumbo for the first time. After I spent FOR.EV.ER. on here trying to figure this out, the whole Gumbo idea went out the window. So After some help from Jason and my sister in law, I SORT OF know what Im doing. Just give me a little time and I'll be the next Pioneer Woman. So I guess I just act like this is a Diary? If Im doing this all wrong, someone please tell me. 
I have been thinking about starting a Blog for a while, and after seeing all of my other friends blogs, I gave in. Plus Im sure everyone will be sitting at their computers all day just waiting for my next post, right? =)
Well, its 11:27 and Brody has "School" aka Mothers Day Out tomorrow so Im going to not procrastinate (like I usually do) and get all his stuff ready. I NEVER get things together the night before. I like to be extremely rushed and stressed out in the mornings. Who am I and where is the OLD Michele? It must be my new blog.