My Beautiful Day

For TODAY ... Outside my window ...  the sun is shining, the lake is calm and still like a sheet of glass, the squirrels are running wildly, and someone from the city is outside spray painting lines in our lawn (identifying the water/sewer/gas/etc). I am thinking ... about my UPS package that's arriving today and the fact that I'm hoping it arrives later this afternoon when I'm home because the delivery of it requires a signature! I am thankful for ...  my God, my husband, my kids, my family, my faith, my church, my friends, my doctors, my home ..... my LIFE! I am wearing ...  jeans that are too short, a brown T-shirt and my Hilfiger sweatshirt (you know, the one that I bought for Monte for Christmas last year and then shrunk it down so much that it now fits me!). I am remembering ... Monte's late wife and my kids' mama, Kelley.  I never knew her, but she is always in my mind, especially coming into the holiday season.  I'm looking for creative ways t...

In preparation for hosting Thanksgiving this year, my kitchen and dining room started off by looking like this ... ... and like this ... ... and while I will admit that it took a long time to get all of that organized and into my cupboards and refrigerators, it did eventually get cleaned up!  My brother, Tory, and his family joined us at our home for Turkey Day festivities this year and it was completely wonderful to get to spend some time with them!  It really blessed my heart to see Colin playing so well with my nephew, Elijah, as this has not always been the case in the past - but at this particular gathering, they played as if they were old buddies! Lisa and I spent much time cooking and cleaning (though I have to give credit to Monte and Tory, as they did almost all of the post dinner clean up!) ... ... *sorry Lisa, this is the only mid-cooking picture of us that I have!  Once the meal preparation was complete, we sat down and enjoyed an amazing dinn...

Today I am going to my OBGYN office for yet another appointment.  Today's appointment is going to consist of an ultrasound and a Doctor's Visit.  I am bringing Colin with me, hoping and praying that he will be satisfied playing with the few toys we bring and reading the few books we bring.  Today's appointment determines the next direction that we go.  Today's appointment moves me forward in the fertility process.  Somehow, though, today's appointment does not have me anxious, worried or nervous.  I feel as if I am moving forward confidently, knowing that this is just another step I'm taking toward the day I conceive and carry my baby, another step toward the day I get to be pregnant, another step toward the day that I meet our next child. Today is a beautiful day and I have a lot to give thanks for!

Do you know the significance of this photo?  Well, allow me to explain.  I am quite aware that it is not the most flattering photo of me.  I'm aware that Colin's room is a bit messy (but come on, when is it not?!).  I'm aware that we're reading bedtime stories and this is one of my most cherished moments of the day.  Guess what?  The true significance in this photo for me (at least at this time) is the fact that I pulled it off of my working wonderfully having lost nothing on it  computer!  That's right.  About one hour on the phone to Dell support allowed me to walk through a few steps with the Technical Support guy and VOILA .. the computer is back to normal! Thank You God!! So, now that the computer is working again, I will soon enough be back to regularly blogging (which  means I will be regularly commenting again, too!) and catching up on my email.  However, today is not the day that I'm going to do that, entirely because...

Some days I feel incredibly frustrated with myself. This morning is one of those days. See, about a week ago, I had the pressing thought that maybe, just MAYBE, it would be a good time to run a backup on my computer, as I have not done so in almost a year. However, having many other things on my schedule for the day, I put the thought off. It came back to me several times that day, and I continued to push it off, telling myself that I would do it later. Guess what? Later never came. Wednesday morning I pushed the power button on my laptop and sat there and watched as it crashed before my eyes. AAGHHHH!! Alright, maybe I can't say crashed, but I can say that the crazy thing won't start. It keeps running a "startup repair" program, that just can't repair the startup. I'm at a loss! Thankfully, I purchased this laptop a little over a year ago from my friend Chris, as he has a business account with Dell. Chris has informed me that the computer is cov...

Many of you may have watched the story featuring mommy bloggers on Fox 9 News last night, some of you may not have.  For those of you who haven't seen it, here it is!

There's this woman who you may have heard of.  She sits on the other side of the computer and posts the things that show up on this blog.  She's the one who may walk around for days with a blog post brewing in her mind, only to turn around and put it on your screen in 10 minutes.  She's the 25 year old who is married to a 43 year old.  She's the one with four stepchildren.  Who is she?  She is Kami.  Who is Kami? I am Kami. There are many things in my life that define who I am.  First and foremost, I am a child of God.  I would not be where I am today if it weren't for His mercy, grace and love. I am a wife to an absolutely amazing man.  I am a stepmom to four completely phenomenal children. I am a daughter, a sister, a niece and a friend.  I am the woman who will take fashion over function any day of the week.  I am an extreme extrovert.  I love to try new things.  I love meeting new people.  I love to...

I'm very sorry to have to say it, but you all win.  Apparently my most recent blog post appears to be too personal of a topic for many of my readers to be comfortable with.  That being said, it has been removed and you have my word that I will stick to topics that will make you all smile.  I've saved said post, along with all of your comments, and will keep it for myself, as that is what you wanted originally anyway. I am going into temporary blog hibernation.  I may be back as soon as tomorrow, it may be a week, I really don't know.  I will be back when I have inspiration to write about something that will bring my readers warm fuzzy feelings. In the meantime, if you are in an area that receives Fox 9 news out of the Twin Cities, tune in tomorrow (Wednesday November 18th) at 9pm to see a special on blogging featuring my family.  I'm uncertain as to exactly what time within the news broadcast it will be on, but I have been told that it would be early in...

Five Question Friday is a blog carnival started by Mama M - hop over to her blog to see who else is playing! 1. What is your favorite "eat" on Thanksgiving? While I love to host Thanksgiving, and am excited to do so again this year, there really isn't any specific thing that screams YUMMO at me!  I guess, if I have to choose, I would go with the Green Bean Casserole, entirely because I have a crazy love for green beans! 2. What is the name your best girl friend and the best trait about her or how you met (or heck, both!!)? Her name is Tanya .  She's pretty much amazing.  We met almost 26 years ago, back in the hospital when I was just a newborn babe.  Oh, did I mention that she's my sister?!  Tanya is truly wonderful.  She's 11 years older than I am, which I think is wonderful because it has allowed a very deep connection between us.  Whatever I seem to be going through as a new parent, she usually has great advice for me.  She's all arou...

1.  What time did you get up this morning? I woke up shortly after 6:00am, but didn't get out of bed until about 6:40am.  I let myself sleep in a little bit! :) 2.  How do you like your steak? Medium or Medium Rare, depending on where I'm ordering from! 3.  What is the last film you saw at the cinema? Oh goodness .. ummm .. Monte and I went and saw a movie quite awhile ago, and it was a chick flick, too (my hubby is amazing to let me watch so many chick flicks!) but for the life of me I can't remember what it was!  OH - I think it was "He's Just Not That Into You".  I think. 4.  What is your favorite TV show? I don't watch much TV, but if I had a choice it would be almost anything on HGTV.  Unfortunately, we don't get that station! 5.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Right where I am at.  I love Minnesota! 6.  What did you have for breakfast? Cereal.  I hate to admit it, but I ha...

As many of you know, I had my Hysterosalpingogram yesterday.  I think that I was a bit nervous, though I didn't feel that way - it just occurred to me in different areas, like the fact that I hardly slept the night before!  So, I dropped Colin off at our neighbor's house and drove the 45 minutes to the hospital.  I arrived at the check-in desk at 10:00 AM and was surprised to be greeted by my old friends Kim (a male Kim, mind you) and Mary Kay!  ** Remember them, Becca? **  It was such a wonderful surprise, as I had no idea that this was where they both worked.  I went with Mary Kay back to a cubical where she went over the registration paperwork with me and we very briefly caught up on each others lives (I haven't seen them in almost two years).  What a blessing to see her again, as Mary Kay is a woman who has always been very dear to my heart! :) After my registration was complete, I was given a pager and asked to sit in the waiting room.  I ...

UPDATE: It seems, from the many comments I've received, that it appears my mom got new glasses.  Truly, though, she did not.  She is wearing the same glasses in both pictures, the first picture is just farther away and out of focus, so you can't really tell! :) Original Post: When we left the house around 8:00am, we looked like this: I know the picture is blurry, and I'm very sorry that it is, but you get what you get (and you don't have a fit)! Upon our arrival at the event, we met up with Amy, our fabulous Image Consultant who was doing our makeover.  We were introduced on stage (yes, looking like that picture!) and shown in our every day clothes.  Following this short presentation, we were whisked away and taken to get a new outfit, to have our hair cut and colored and to have a makeup application.  Among all of that, we had wonderful company from Amy and from Beth (our hairstylist), we enjoyed coffee and conversation, had lunch and ... well ... got...

I know I said I wasn't going to blog again, but this one is at least worth mentioning! I talked to a nurse in my OBGYN office today and she worked through the confusion of my appointments with me and explained to me the necessity of the two separate appointments. That being said, I now have step one of my fertility exam scheduled with Dr. H this coming Tuesday, November 10. She explained that I will have some results of this on that day, and the full results a few days later. Praise the Lord! Things are moving forward :)

I write this in anticipation that my weekend is going to be so busy with guests, fun, food, love and happiness that there just won't be a moment of time to sit down and write a blog post. My husband is going to be hunting this weekend, my kids will be at their aunts house. While I will thoroughly miss all of them, I am going to PARTY -- or at least have a good time as much as a 20-something step-mom and wife and MATURE CHRISTIAN WOMAN is able. What is all of this babbling?! Well, it just means that my mom and I are the recipients of a free makeover for both of us, and it's happening this weekend! To celebrate, we turned our small girls' weekend into a BIG weekend by inviting two of my aunts, my grandma, and my sister to come as well. So, I will be busy all weekend long - and I love it! :) Don't worry, I will be back next week with wonderful words and thoughts and even pictures from said makeover. But for now, as is, I am off to have myself a wonderful girls...

Yesterday, as Colin and I were eating lunch together, he looks at me, his face filled with curiousity, and asks, "Kami, do you jump on your bed at night after I am in my bed?" I gave him a questioning look, as I was not quite sure as to what he was talking about at this point. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, this morning I got up before it was daytime and I was going downstairs to watch cartoons and when I went by your room to tell you I was up I heard you and dad jumping on the bed." Oh. My. Goodness!! "Yes dear, we were just jumping on the bed!" Oh the things that he says!!

I have little to say about my appointment, and you will find that to your benefit because I am crabby about it. Why? Well thank you for asking! I'm crabby because I waited two weeks for my fertility exam, and really just went in and had the exact same stinkin appointment that I had two weeks ago. The only difference? Two weeks ago was with my regular OB, Dr. T. Dr. T talked a lot to me two weeks ago about my options and then drew some blood to do tests. Today I talked with Dr. H. Dr. H talked a lot with me about my options and then told me his nurse would call me to set up the fertility exam. WHAT?! Is that not the appointment that I scheduled TWO WEEKS AGO?! So basically, I just wasted an entire afternoon. I hired a babysitter, scheduled appointments around it (in other words, I could have been feeding my self-induced therapy of looking at houses this afternoon) and took a lot of my time driving there and back (and having what felt like the same appointment that I had ...

I will be the first to admit that I have been absent from blogging. I have taken a short leave-of-absence thinking that it may help me to clear my head a little bit, but it has done exactly the opposite. I have come to discover that blogging is a bit therapeutic for me, it's something I come to enjoy and it's my way of sorting through the thoughts and ideas rolling around in my head. Fear not, dear readers, my absence is done! Hopefully, I will be back to a more regular schedule of blogging. I will be absent no more! I've come to the point where I can freely admit this: I have told a lie. I'm uncertain if I told this lie to you, but I know for certain that I have told this lie to me. As you may know, I have my fertility exam tomorrow. I've been convinced that, no matter what the results, I won't be bothered by them. I think that today I have discovered that I am the only person who was convinced of that. Unfortunately, the thing that brought about th...