Not Me! Monday is a blog carnival started by MckMama. It provides an outlet, a way to admit to all of those things that you sheepishly have done this past week! Head over to her blog to check out other Not Me! moments!

Almost a couple of weeks ago, in the midst of being tremendously ill, I absolutely did NOT soil myself FIVE times in one week. I always maintain full control of *ahem* that and would never lose control over my BMs!

I absolutely did not burst out laughing when my three-year-old came up to me and was very concerned that he was "broken" because he "has a double-jointed face". I then did not have to spend almost a half hour consoling him because I certain had not hurt his feelings by my actions.

While I was in Target today, I did not confuse the sweet old man who was standing near me by making him think I was talking to him while I was actually having a conversation using the bluetooth device on my cell phone. I am completely annoyed by people who have long conversations in stores and would never put myself in that category, especially when the person near me thinks I'm talking to him and gets embarassed when he can't answer my question!

While baking a birthday cake for a friend, I certainly did not lose a toothpick inside the cake while testing to see if it was done! I always make sure to keep my fingers away and would NEVER use a tweezers to remove said toothpick!!

I also did not return my daughter's socks to Target intending to exchange them and, in fact, remember to buy everything I needed except for her socks. I am a wonderful step-mother and I fully know how much she is in need of socks and I would have NEVER forgotten them!

Finally, I did not ask my children to JUST STOP TALKING while I was driving them home from their grandparents' house, merely so I could listen to the Vikings game on the radio. My children are incredibly important to me, and the things they have to say rate FAR higher than a football game!!

So - what Not Me! moments did you have this week?!

See this man? The super sexy one holding a dead bird and a gun?
This man is my husband, Monte. He sent me this picture yesterday. He's hunting this weekend with his cousin, Blaine. I have an extremely obvious secret: I MISS HIM!! While I'm thrilled that he is out having a great time with the guys in his family, I'm feeling his absence at home. I miss his snoring. Not even kidding you, I miss his SNORING! It's something I've become so used to hearing that I miss it when I go to bed. I miss his warmth at night, too -- I had to add blankets to my bed last night because I was so cold! Most of all, I just miss his smile, I miss the way his eyes light up when he looks at me, I miss his goofyness and his laughter, I miss his teasing, I miss his hugs and kisses, I miss being in his arms ....

*SiGh* Have I mentioned that I miss my husband? Cause I really do ....

Tomorrow afternoon can't come soon enough. Be safe and come home soon my love!

This is my first time participating in this blog hop! Thanks to Mama M for creating it!

1. What celebrity have you been told you look like?
I really don't think that I've been told that I look like a celebrity since I was younger when everybody thought I looked like Jody Sweetin (you know, the girl who played Stephanie on "Full House"). Now, I just look like me! :)

2. What is your all time favorite movie, any special reason why?
Truth be told, my favorite movie is "Beauty and the Beast". I know, kinda cheesy that I like a kids' movie, but lets face it, it's a great love story about how the love of one person can win over the bitterness of even the most angry and resentful beast. I love it :)

3. Since we're talkin' movies...Popcorn: overrated, underrated, or 'bout right?
All I can say on the popcorn is YES PLEASE! My husband and I share popcorn at every movie, even a majority of the ones we watch at home! It's just such a wonderful little snack to have .. and a crazy addiction, perhaps?!

4. Are you a glass half empty or half full kinda person?
What's with the half stuff? My glass is almost always overflowing :)

5. What perfume/cologne do you wear?
(I actually had to go look to answer this question!) "Intimately Beckham" I love it! Sniffed it out at Target and just had to have it :)

This morning I blog entirely because I haven't updated since Tuesday. I blog because I hate it when people don't update their blogs (at least the ones that I follow religiously!). I blog because I'm finally starting to find that thing called energy who has chosen to hid itself from me for so very long. I blog because I just love to blog, even when I have nothing to talk about!

Alright, let's talk doctor appointment. I love my doctor, I really do. She never makes me feel like she's rushing me in and out of there, she always takes time to discuss all of my concerns and she even takes time to ask me about my personal life. I'm truly blessed when it comes to my health care! As for the appointment, it went well. We chatted for a long time, I told her my symptoms, she wrote me a prescription to finally stop the diarrhea that's been plaguing me for a week and a half help me feel better. I went to the lab where they drew more blood to run more tests. All in all, I still don't have an answer! The catch about that, though, is that if I am not feeling better by the end of the weekend, I have to go see a specialist. I don't want that. Thus, I'm praying that I will feel better - and I truly believe that I am! I'm getting a little more energy every day. I'm eating a little bit more every day. I'm smiling a little bit more every day. And I'm not having numerous bouts of diarrhea feeling uncomfortable like I was. Here's praying that the "better" finds me quickly!

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My husband just left. Not permanantly - he would never do that - just for the weekend. He's going grouse hunting with his cousin, Blaine. He went last weekend as well (though that was with his brother, Mike) and he's just as excited to head up there this weekend. While I will definitely miss him, I am in no way complaining that he's going hunting. In fact, he plans on going hunting four or five times between this month and next, and I really don't mind. Know why? It's entirely because I understand the necessity for your own time - for having a weekend away just "the boys". Know why I understand that? Because I need those weekends away as well, though they are girls weekends for me :). Last time I had a girls weekend, it was my mom, my sister, my sister-in-law and I in a hotel for the weekend. We shopped, we talked, we watched HGTV, we went to church, we had a blast! It was the weekend get-away that I needed at that time. Guess what? I'm sensing the fact that another weekend away needs to start showing up in my plans! I just might have to start planning that out here in the near future ... :)

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Beyond that, I have nothing else to write about. In fact, I think I'm going to go lay down and rest for awhile. Here's to a good weekend for all :)

That's right, I'm having a pity party. I am frustrated beyond belief that I am now nine days into being sick. Nine days of bland food. Nine days of nausea. Nine days of fevers. Nine days of crabby Kami!! Okay, truthfully speaking, I have not been crabby for nine straight days - but being sick with no reason why for nine days has me wanting to pull out my hair! I am fully understanding the fact that it could be MUCH worse than what it is. I am grateful that whatever has decided to plague my body is not something that is going to threaten my life. I'm thankful for an amazing husband who has stepped up and taken care of the house, making dinners, doing laundry and taking care of our kids -- all while my unhealthy self is laying in bed.

My goodness I want my life back. So yes, today I am having a pity party - a pity party because I had plans to get together with a group of fabulous women today and I had to cancel. A pity party because I just am so sick and tired of being sick and tired that I am having a pity party. I'm sorry if you disagree .. come back tomorrow and maybe I'll have posted something a lot more entertaining than my whining! I go to see my doctor yet again in three hours and I am praying that they have an answer for me this time.

For now, I will do everything I can to walk away from the desire to throw a pity party. I will try ......

Through my relationship with Monte, I have learned something about myself that I don't think I was completely aware of prior to being married: I am a very black-and-white no-room-for-gray, all or nothing personality.  This doesn't necessarily reflect my relationship with Monte, but it's something that I have learned about myself due to the fact that my amazing hubby has lots of room for gray and is definitely NOT all or nothing.  Is that good?  Is it bad?  Is one wrong and the other right?  I don't think so.  I just know that this is how we are individually, which compliments and sometimes makes things challenging as a couple. 

As you may know, I've been sick this week.  I'm still not feeling fabulous, but I'm nowhere near as sick as I was.  That being said, on Wednesday night I told Monte that my goal for Thursday was to get all of our laundry done (being I haven't touched laundry since last week).  I'm a bit of an extremist!  Can't hardly walk, but I'm going to go up and down our stairs with huge baskets of laundry and make sure it's all completed by the end of the day.  Monte's response: "Maybe your goal should just be to spend the day out of bed?!"  He wasn't being rude by any means, he just understood that this was definitely not an all or nothing situation.  He understood that I would need to take small steps into that gray area to go from the nothing of laying in bed feeling miserable to the all of feeling great and healthy and functioning like I normally would! 

When Thursday came, I think I was more thankful for my husband than what I have ever been.  He knew the fact that I wouldn't be strong enough to do laundry and that I would overexert myself trying to do so!  He understood that there has to be room for the gray area, because in order to grow, you don't just jump from complete lack to complete understanding.  There's a process.

Seems like I'm finally learning that there's a process.  I guess my all-or-nothing mentality needs a little tweaking.  :)

This got me thinking to the other "alls" in my life.  What do I need to do with ALL of me?  The one thing that sticks out more than anything is this:
Mark 12:30 "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  This is the first commandment."

In my mind, this is not an all-or-nothing thing, this is not something that allows room for grays .. this is just an ALL thing.  You just do it.  You just use ALL of your heart, soul, mind and strength to love our God. 

When I look at my relationship with my husband, I can tell him with complete honesty that I love him with all that I am.  Every ounce, every inch, every part of me is completely in love with him.  There is nothing in this world I wouldn't do for him (within the boundaries of my morals, of course!).  I love him with my ALL.

When I look at my relationship with God, I can say that I love Him with everything within me.  I can say that my heart longs to spend time with Him, my lips long to praise Him, I long to adore Him, I long to sit in communion with Him.  I want to know Him and be near Him entirely because that's the same way He feels about me!  I love Him with my ALL.

God calls us His bride.  We are his bride and He is our bridegroom.  He loves us with such passion and unconditional love that He calls us His bride.  When I look at my Monte, my groom, never would I ever think of telling him that our relationship is all-or-nothing, that my love for him is all-or-nothing because the only option for me is that our relationship is ALL.  I give my ALL to him, to love him and to be with him.

And when I look at my God, when I talk to my Savior, I would never think of telling him that our relationship is all-or-nothing, for it, too, is nothing but ALL.

And that's the way it was meant to be.

I picked Colin up from his first day of preschool today.  As we're driving away, I asked him how his morning was and if he liked preschool.  His response?

"The guy teacher said 'Oh!!' really loud when I pushed on his butt."

This was immediately followed with a long conversation as to why we are not allowed to touch people's butts!  Oh the things he says ....

Please forgive me for being away - but it was a busy, busy weekend! Friday night was family movie night - we rented a movie and relaxed together, it was so great! Saturday I got the chance to finally meet my bloggy friend, Christy, and three of her kids - what a wonderful time that was! We were able to chat and play and enjoy lunch while they were here and it was every bit as wonderful as I anticipated it would be! After they left, we kicked it into high gear and cleaned cleaned cleaned the house, as we had our first showing on Saturday. Once the house was clean, we headed out to the Incredible Festival (a.k.a. the local fair). We spent a few hours there letting the kids ride the rides, chatting with some of our friends and wiping off the sweat from an insanely hot day! Yikes it was hot! After a few hours in the heat, we headed back home so Monte and I could wash up and head to his 25 year class reunion! Yep, that's right, my love graduated high school when I was almost six months old :) The reunion was a good time, Monte thoroughly enjoyed being able to visit with his classmates (and I enjoyed the time there as well)! It made for a very busy, but very enjoyable Saturday!

Sunday we were up bright and early and off to church! After church we came home for lunch and headed out to meet Melissa, our wedding photographer, for a family photo shoot. She is a completely amazing photographer and I was so excited to be able to do this! Definitely check out her website or her blog to see some of her work!

After our photo shoot, we headed to Dairy Queen for a quick afternoon snack, then to Cabela's for some shopping fun. Once we were done at Cabela's, we headed home again as I was starting to feel more than slightly sick. Monte made dinner (what an awesome hubby I have!), and the kids played after dinner and I rested. Bedtime came, the kiddos were tucked in and I tucked myself in feeling quite ill at this point. The night was awful, as I was up every half hour with ahem ... sickness. I'll spare you the details :) That sickness lasted through the entire day on Monday, so my amazing in-laws came and picked Colin up for the day and took him to their house to play so that I could rest. Monte came home after work and made dinner for the kids again and then we made the decision that it was time to take me to the emergency room, as my sickness wasn't getting any better. We called my in-laws and they were able to come and be with our kids and we went to the ER. What a long night it was! Two bags of IV fluid, blood work, and other tests later, they're still not completely sure what has caused my sickness. The doctor said that she thinks it is salmonella poisoning, but she needs a stool sample to find out, and I wasn't able to provide one while I was there. Unfortunately, I still have to provide one - so once I get that taken care of, I can bring it in for her to find out exactly what is going on. Ewwwwwwww :)



In the midst of our ER visit, my husband found need to take a picture of me! :)

Today, I'm feeling better, but still not great. I'm tired, I'm hungry and thirsty and I am sore. However, I am still a LOT better than I was.

That's my reasoning for being gone - hope you can forgive the absense! So, how are you?!

I finally did it! After being an avid user of the BlogFrog, I've finally decided to start my own community. I would love to hear from you all - stop by the forum, start a discussion, add a comment onto one that's already there .. just make some noise! :)

To visit my community, click on the My Community widgit (that green box in my left-hand column!) or go here.

Can't wait to hear from you all!

I was a senior in high school, sitting in Mr. Tweeton's class. The class ended and I was walking out the door when I overheard our Dean of Students having a quiet discussion with my teacher, saying that the World Trade Center had been hit. Let's face it, I'm fairly naive as far as travels go, and I truly had no idea what the World Trade Center was! It took only a matter of about 10 minutes for me to truly understand. Instead of going to my next class, we were all to go into the library to watch news footage of what was going on.

The horror before my eyes was more than I knew or could possibly understand. I sat with my eyes glued to the television screen for the rest of the school day. I had no comprehension of the fact that I hadn't eaten lunch, that I had skipped the few classes that were still being held, or of what was truly going on. I couldn't grasp the fact that someone would be so truly filled with hatred that they would want to commit such a heinous crime. I was scared, confused and uncertain what this would mean.

The one good thing that I remember coming from this, however, was the oneness you felt with fellow Americans. It didn't matter if you were black, white, brown or purple - whether you had money or were dirt poor. We truly were one nation under God.

My prayer for our country as we remember this day is just that: that we will remember what it means and find our way back to being one nation under God.

Today, while I was helping Colin get dressed, I noticed that his sweat pants (which are my FAVORITE sweat pants of his, by the way) are seeming to be a little bit small.

I noticed this and told him, "Colin you must be growing into an even bigger boy - look how your pants are getting short!"

To which he responded, "Kami, can you please tell God to stop growing me? I just wanna be little like this."

Me too, buddy, I want you to be little like this forever :)

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed. On December 6, 2008 I was bound in marriage to the most wonderful man I've ever met. On December 8, 2008 we left for our honeymoon in Kaua'i, Hawai'i. We spent nine (eight? ten? I'm honestly not sure!) glorious days together in the pouring rain visiting tourist traps, eating out, enjoying our cottage by the sea ... it was a dream come true. Aaahhh the life of a newlywed.

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed. On December 6, 2008 I was bound in marriage to the most wonderful man I've ever met. On that same day, I was bound in marriage to the four most amazing step-children any woman could ask for. On the same day that I was began learning how to be a wife, I also began learning how to be a mom. Upon arrival back home from the sunshine pouring rain of Hawai'i, I became instant step-mother. I became the reader of bedtime stories, the kisser of owies, the preparer of dinner, the receiver of the flying football, the referee who breaks up fights, the cuddler of all four children, the one who gives "lots of lots of kisses" and "smells me like a puppy", the one who's soft hair gets put into her three-year-old's ear, the washer of clothes, the giver and receiver of love.

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed. I married a family. I have a husband who loves me more than I've ever known. I have four phenomenal step-children who fill me with awe and wonder and delight.

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed. I was 24 when I got married. I instantly felt as if I were 42! This isn't a bad thing. When I say I felt like I was 42, I'm saying that my life as a 24-year-old had changed. I was no longer meeting friends for coffee and staying up late into the night chatting. I was no longer available for spur-of-the-moment outings. I was, however, following a schedule, driving kids to sports and loving my family more than I imagined possible.

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed. I'm blessed far beyond normal newlyweds. Not only did I marry the most wonderful man in the world, but I was also blessed with the most wonderful children anybody could ask for!

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed ... and that's exactly what I like most about being a newlywed!

I'm a newlywed, but I'm not a normal newlywed.

Earlier this evening, I was at our local grocery store picking up produce when I ran into my sweet neighbor Susie. In the midst of conversation, she made an observation of the fact that I tend to put the miles on (my truck) when it comes to visiting people - and boy was she ever right! The more I think about it, the more I realize that I have absolutely no problem jumping in the car and taking a long drive to go visit a friend or family member for a few hours, and that I do it quite frequently. Take this past weekend for example. Monte and I took the kids to my mom and step-dad's house to spend Labor Day weekend fishing and relaxing. That's approximately 180 miles one way. Then today I spontaniously decided that Colin and I were going to go to visit my sister to have a "girls day" (Colin is NOT included in that definition!). That is approximately 45 miles. Trips like this are not all that uncommon in the day for me, especially when the kids are back in school.

After my conversation with Susie, I began to wonder if we are willing to put miles on like this in our spiritual lives. Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this, just stick with me for a bit! I have no problem driving to my sister's house because I know that while the journey is long and oftentimes monotonous and boring, the end result is that I get to be with one of my closest friends and spend precious time bonding with Tanya. How often is it that, in our spiritual lives, we start out on the journey but somehow decide that it is too hard, too boring, too monotonous, too strict, too something for us to stick it out. How many people begin that journey and never reach the destination of a true relationship with God simply because they can't endure the "miles" of changes necessary or the "miles" of unhappy moments that can happen on the journey.

I'm in the middle of the miles right now. I'm on a journey headed to an unknown destination. The wonderful part of that is the fact that I am not the one driving. I am in the passenger seat in this journey, trusting God that He will carry me through, and that He is the one driving my car. Some days are not easy. Some days I truly want to scream and shout and cry. The awesome thing is that I am not going to give up. No matter what the final destination of these miles happens to be, I am not going to pull over and retreat. God has great plans for me, who am I to interfere?!

So, though the miles seem to abound right now, I will keep on keepin' on and I will know that God is in control. As far as I'm concerned, that's all I really need to know anyway!

Right next to the flower gardens is our huge driveway. What good is a driveway if it is old and cracked and needs to be replaced doesn't have a fresh seal coat on it? So that's just what our good friend, Chris, spent the better part of three days doing for us - seal coating our massive driveway! Thanks so much Chris - you're an amazing friend!

I know that this looks like another picture of the flower gardens, but if you can, look beyond that and see the beauty that is emanating from our front porch. See, before, this porch had a nice shade of gray. Now it is shining with it's beautiful new color after my husband spent a LONG afternoon staining the deck. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Do you need a closer look? Alright, here it is, you don't have to beg!! ;)

Previously, when you would look down the hill toward our dock, you would see a lot of brush and the traces of a path that used to be there. Unfortunately, that path had all but been destroyed, and the brush had grown so high that you could no longer see the lake. Well - NOT ANYMORE! Thanks to my phenomenal father-in-law, Woody, you can now see (thanks to the removal of many weeds!) and walk up and down that fully functional path to our dock! Also, thanks to my completely amazing husband and his machete, the underbrush that had taken away our view of the lake has been cut down and this is what remains:

Want to know what happened to all the dirt that was encompassing the back side of our house? Well, thanks to Monte's cousin Blaine and his use of the power washer, our house is shining with beauty!

All of those changes have been really great - but I must admit that the most amazing of them all happened inside of our home - a project that is at least five years in the making: WE CLEANED CLAIRE'S BEDROOM! If you had ever been in there before, you would know that there literally was maybe a walking area of three square feet. She had piles of STUFF everywhere, her shelves were covered in STUFF, the floor was covered in STUFF ... it was an overwhelming amount of STUFF! Now, I will let the pictures speak for themselves (I really wish I had a "before" picture for this so you can see just how drastic the change, but alas, I cannot find one):

All that hard work has left me with just one thing to say: I'm exhausted! I'm so thankful for everybody who has helped make this a success - now it's just time for someone to come and buy the house! :)