Merry Christmas from Springfield, Mo.~ an event

Last night we officially made a favorite activity into a tradition. We got some friends and a couple of family members together and went caroling on the 7th floor at St. John's hospital. This is their pediatric floor. Last year is when this tradition started. My wonderful husband was the one to initiate and coordinate the whole thing. We went to a couple of nursing homes and to St. John's as well. Jason put together some songs and put them in books and we all gathered, decked in our santa hats and christmassy paraphanaila. Good times! I got a little emotional at one point (suprise suprise) when multiple families were gathered in the hallway to listen. A wonderful night that Jason and I will be sure to make a yearly event.





our niece Hannah and Nephew Devon came along- we treated them to hot chocolate ala Micky D's. They have a yummy peppermint hot chocolate



our soundtrack for the evening aka an early Christmas present from Jason- (he scored BIG points on that one)

Merry Christmas! from Springfield, MO.

May I present: Jason and Christa's Charlie Brown Tree- Christmas 2011.

from my blackberry's point of view...

today i want to take a moment to share some some highlights from the recent months. All through the lens of my blackberry..



one of my very best friends, Mrs. Kerri Sagraves, journeyed from Knoxville, Tn. with her sweet family in November. This is her daughter, Lizzie, enjoying some "Mickey Mouse Club" in the comfort of our living room. This was their first visit. =)



i know.. this is a little random.. i mainly posted this pic. because i think my husband looks HOTT in it... That's all.



this crab fest was in honor of Jason recieving his official license to be a minister for the Assemblies of God~ SO PROUD! Jason caught the attention of many as he downed 2.5 lbs. of crab legs. It was truely a sight to behold! he was a happy boy!



every year at the Indiana Visitors Center they do a display of windows featuring scenes from the movie "The Christmas Story" this was Jason's first visit and one of my favorite scenes- when Flick gets his tongue frozen to the flag pole- "I double dog dare ya!"




uncle Mark came over one morning while we were visiting for Thanksgiving and made us breakast- but not just breakfast, his famous "hash cookes"- my FAVORITE!



my cousin Robin got married over the Thanksgiving weekend. I have always had a good relationship with her and her sister, Elizabeth. It was a beautiful wedding!

Merry Christmas! from Springfield, MO.

I've decided to start a mini series. This will be my first Christmas in Springfield. So each Friday (hopefully) leading up to Christmas, I will post a picture capturing this momentous occasion. Here's my first installment...



this house has the coolest light display- Mike Bagwell is just a local
citizen who wants to spread Christmas cheer to the community. As you drive
by, you can tune your radio to a certain station and the lights are set
to the music- super cool and super fun!- ps- Jason took this photo- he done good! =)

black friday- the experience

I love this time of year! I can’t get enough of the sights, the sounds, the smells.. I love coming up with gifts for family and friends.. and picking out that very special gift for that very special person. This year I went the extra mile for my husband.. I stood in line on Black Friday for a special midnight door buster. That’s right.. I stood in the cold for an hour and a half so I could buy Jason a Play Station 3 for half price. It was quite the experience.. let me tell ya. Apparently PS3’s were in high demand this year because just about every store had it for this same price. We tried Wal-Mart first (they opened the earliest at 9:00 pm) except the store was completely disorganized and little did I know, that you had to have a ticket to get one and by the time we got there.. all the tickets were gone. You know when one of the members of management complains that they are disorganized, then you’re in for it!! On our way out, one of the managers pleaded with everyone to stay calm and respect other customers. WOW! There’s your sign, it’s time to GO! There were reports of fighting over mixers and people diving into bins of towels so my choice to bring my teeny mother seemed to be the poor choice. When we reached the registers, a woman standing in line recognized us but we didn’t recognize her. (we were in Chicago) We figured she goes to grandpa’s church. Anyway.. we told her that we had struck out and she saved the day by telling us of three other places that had the same deal. Two (Target and Game Stop) were in the same shopping center, so we decided to head over there. Did I mention we got lost on our way over?! Haha!! We ended up driving in circles until we got directions from a nice EMS worker and mom’s GPS FINALLY started working properly.



This is actually the line at Target, it was stretching down the sidewalk in front of the line I was lucky to be waiting in instead.



When we finally got to the shopping center, Target had a line out the door about a block long and Game Stop had 4 people waiting..I picked the obvious choice. Before I made my decision to wait in the cold, I asked the people already waiting what they were out to buy. I was not about to wait in line for an hour and a half in the cold only to walk away empty handed. Only one of them were there for the PS3 so I knew I was safe. Mom decided it was too cold, so I waited in line while mom sat in the car. She even called for backup. I was not prepared to wait in the cold (I thought Wal-Mart would be a breeze- HA!!) Dad arrived about 30 minutes into the wait with blankets and a hat. – Bless him!! He hung out for a little while and chatted with me and mom. It is much better waiting when you have a buddy. Finally, about 15 minutes before midnight, a game stop employee came out and took our names and what we were waiting on. He then proceeded to give us numbered tickets and informed us that our merchandise would be behind the counter- VICTORY! So the moral of the story is: Wear warm clothes on Black Friday and have a Plan B… maybe even a C, D, and F. If it weren’t for the lady in Wal-Mart that we didn’t know.. I would probably have nothing.




I can’t wait to see the look on Jason’s face! =)

a glimpse..

Over the weekend, Jason and I were in the Children's Christmas Musical at church. I played the part of Grandma Betty and Jason was Henry Olson- the church janitor/pastor. It was super fun to dress up in our cheesy outfits and spray our hair gray. Jason, as usual, hammed it up and talked the talk and walked the walk all weekend. The musical was about some kids that go back in time and visit different decades for their Church's annual Christmas Caroling outreach. Of course there were different songs for each decade all with the Christmas message in them. We had a blast! We definately got somewhat of a glimpse of what we could look like as oldies. Mom and dad came from Memphis to see us along with Jason's parents and grandparents.

This is me and Grace- she played a younger version Grandma Betty. I called her "mini-me" and she called me "giant- me"it was fun!



We also were offered an exciting opportunity: Starting after the first of January, we will be leading the kids services on Sunday nights. Our current kids pastors have stepped down and Jason and I will share their responsibilities with another couple. Jason and I are solely responsible for the PM services. It's an exciting opportunity to serve and minister to these kids that we've really grown to love after working with them on the musical. We are excited to see what other doors God will open..

Oh! did I mention we stayed in full costume for our lunch with the family at Houlihan's afterward?- Fun times!

i'm thankful for...

~ The space heater at my desk: I work in a very open space with no carpet and lots of windows. It tends to get very chilly (especially on cloudy days, like today!)




~ My sweet husband who helped me craft last night. I took on a somewhat challenging project for a Christmas gift (that is being gifted this weekend by the way) and Jason helped me think everything through and used his carpentry skills and perfectionist ways to make the project successful. Which leads me to the third thing I’m thankful for:



~ My husband’s patience with me. ;) (especially when I’m being moody/grumpy- which were both going on last night during our crafting




~ My black hoodie- because it’s comphy, cute, and warm.





~ This sweet little gem of technology that we got recently- affectionately named "Jeffry" the GPS, and yes, I know I may be a little behind on the times, but I'm not the sort to want to spend lots of money on something like this.. so I held out until we got one as a gift- Thanks Aunt Cherie!!


~ And last but not least: ITS FRIDAY!! Have a blessed weekend ya’ll!

Punkins!!

Posin'with Punkins! It really was a nice relaxing day! Jason and I drove to Memphis to celebrate mom's birthday weekend. After our poking around the farmer's market and gift shop, Jason and dad headed to the corn maze and us girls went for a manicure- a rare treat- (did I mention I demolished a bag of cajun flavored boiled peanuts?!- nope! There are good reasons there is no photo evidance of this!)




Jason and a special little punkin'- that night, we had dear friends over to mom and dad's house for chili and catching up. My friend Amy brought over her new baby, Luke. I had never seen Jason hold a baby and just had to.. here's the result- Luke fell asleep in Jason's arms and got praises from mom, Amy. Such a sweet moment!

thursday thoughts

Ok..I really want to be good at blogging. I have definitely gotten sucked into the blogging world and am totally fascinated how these women can make common everyday things like cooking, decorating, and just simple moments looks so stinkin pretty and inviting. I definitely have a creative side and love sharing my life and moments with others. Maybe I just need to figure out what to focus on and put a little bit more thought into it. Being a good blogger doesn’t necessarily have to be complicated.. just needs some imagination and creativity and a good camera.. I need to be more in tune with the simple things in life and the every day moments that are special. I definitely want to chronicle my life and remember every moment. Blogging is definitely a great way to do that. Here’s one for you.. this pic. Was taken over our Thanksgiving holiday. We were inspired to take this crazy shot when we found several pairs of glasses in Nana’s drawer. Good times!



Happy Thanksgiving!- Love, Mr. and Mrs. Waln