Computer, knitting and cupcakes

Today Tom came home with a new laptop for me! We have decided to cancel our tv and I said how I would really like a laptop in order to stay in touch with the world, especially since I mostly work from home now. We looked and then today he brought one home for me! So here I am on my new computer which by the way in it's first month of being in the Nelson family will get to enjoy a trip to Egypt. Lucky computer ;)

I have started knitting again. I had tried before but being overly critical I kept pulling out all my work. I decided this time I am going all the way no matter what happens, I am making a full scarf. It is coming along much faster than I thought, apparently all the practise before has helped me with the cordination of knitting. Once I am finished I shall post a picture (even if it ends up ugly).

Also I have recently found a blog about cupcakes, the lady makes all flavors and with amazing decorations, I'm inspired to try some myself. I'm making strawberry cupcakes for Halloween... this is largely due to the fact that there was a case of strawberry cake mix going out of code next month and so my dad sent me home with some. I'm looking forward to it. I'm going the down the easy road and doing something basic, hey people will actually see this, I will try something more daring when it's just me and Tom seeing them. Speaking of Tom, I promised to stop playing with my new toy and tuck him in, so until tomorrow ;)

Dinner with the Navs

Tonight we are going out to dinner with a couple who work for the Navigators in our area, we also are meeting their advisor.... not really sure what his correct title is but he oversees an area which includes slo. We had lunch the other day with the couple, they go to our church and their children have been in the children and youth programs with Tommy for years. They told us about the Navigators and what they do and Tom and I are going to find out more. We don't know what God's plan is for us, we are trying to be open to all possibilities. It is more what Tom is desiring, more discipleship based, less program and paper work stuff. People are usually changed by relationships not programs. But anyways, nothing decided yet we just want to check things out. If you know anything about this group, let me know, we really want to hear all sides.

2008 National Youth Workers Convention

I am home, we had such a busy weekend, it went by so fast but it was so much fun, it really was just an amazing time. We had a group of 7 and it was so nice to have meals together and actually take the time to talk about the speaker we had just heard.

We got in Friday and for our first general session got to worship with Lincoln Brewster and also Mercy Me. Throughout the weekend we also got to worship with Starfield, Shane and Shane, Hawk Nelson, The Glorious Unseen and someone I had never heard of named Kendall Payne who had the most amazing lyrics. There were tons of speakers at the general sessions and at the seminars, I got to hear Shane Clairborne and Tony Campolo (again). I also really enjoyed Mike Pilavachi, a youth worker who is British and he was dead on what you think of when you think British humor, he definitly had some funny stories. Also we had some great comedians there, ever heard of the Skit Guys? I never had but I totally recomend checking them out. Also Ron McGehee was hilarious!

Even though there was so much and we generally were going from 8 until 11 or later I feel so good coming out of it (this is also me talking after a full night sleep) it was so cool to hear real people talking about mistakes they had made, things that worked, things that didnt. It was amazing to worship God with a huge room FULL of youth workers. I bought some books to read and look forward to just thinking about all I learned. I'm so glad I went and that I got to share the experience with my husband.

Melanie Renee's Fashion Show

Here are a few pictures of Mel's fashion show, it was great! It was so fun to see mel's stuff being walked down the runway, I'm so proud of her!

My cousin noelle in the middle

My husband and I

Preview

Check out our Wedding Trailer

I did not know that they did this for weddings. We asked our friend if he would video tape our wedding, just the ceremony. Well he is a professional and as a gift filmed our WHOLE wedding and is making us a wedding video. How awesome is that? Love this video, can't wait to see the rest of it!

Melanie Renee

Below is the information for my cousins trunk show, shes had one before but this one is much larger, more exposure and as you can see a part a fashion event. She is so excited and so are all of us! It will be her new line which is really exciting, I have only seen it online and I can't wait to see it in person. Up until this line she has always used 100% cotton but now she is getting into some more expensive material. I'm so proud of her!

No longer a newlywed

I can't believe it, I have been married for over a year now. This anniversary came up so suddenly. Shouldn't be surprising with everything that's going on, it definitely has been a rough year, I am hopeful that this year will be better. Poor Tom had to spend most of the year being a support for me. I have been so blessed to have him. Tom's mom was in town the night before and took us out to dinner at AJ Spurs, she had never been to Templeton before so that was fun. For our anniversary we went out to a nice dinner and bought the newest season of the office. We had planned on going somewhere for a night but instead agreed to go to Oklahoma to visit friends and some of my Texas family who drove up to visit. It was so much fun to see them.

Well I have not posted in a long time, in the middle of August our dog JW went missing after a thunderstorm. We were all very worried and mom called the local animal shelters which gives a list of animals picked up. After a few days JW's description was posted and where he was found (down the highway from our ranch) and the family he was staying with. Apparently if you pick up an animal you can help the shelter by keeping the dog at your home. Also if it's a dog you like then I would suppose you could keep them.

Anyways mom called them and the man said yep, JW had his head in his lap that very moment. The whole time JW was missing our other dogs had stopped eating, they had done this before when our other dog died. My mom took the dogs with her and was sitting in the back of the truck with them while waiting for the guy to show up at the meeting spot. As soon as they saw JW, Micah started whining. When the man let JW out, he ran and jumped in the truck where the other dogs started giving him kisses.

My mom said something about how she hoped he didn't mind JW's talking (if anyone has ever meet our dog he "talks" to you by barking and growling, hes totally friendly but if you didn't know he was just saying hi it would be intimidating). The man gave my mom an odd look and said JW had not made a sound the whole time he was with them. Poor guy.

We are so thankful to that family, they had seen him running along the side of the highway and are so awesome that they stopped. JW immediately ran to them. I'm so thankful for people who will go out of their way for others.

Ok I need some coffee before church...