It's looking a lot like Christmas!!!

Well, Christmas is always a big time here at the Roten house! Michael and I both love the "bling, bling" of the holidays, so we throw on the sparkly garland and blinking lights, then call it Christmas. We got even more "in to the spirit" of the season by placing the animated reindeer outside, along with some candy cane lights and a wreath. Way too much fun! Anyway - enjoy the pictures!


My tall dark and handsome husband hanging the lights

Me Supervising (no seriously - I did help!!)
Titus providing his input on the tree
SEE I did help!!! I put the candy canes and ornaments on the tree!
Our front yard! Complete with lighted reindeer and candy canes.

Around the House (finally posted from earlier)

Well - below is a post I started in November and never posted so enjoy!

Life has slowed down just enough that we were able to get a few things done around the house.

The leaves are so beautiful this time of year and when we aren't working around the house I love to sit on the couch and enjoy the view.

We (I mean Michael) planted some mums out front and a few new bushes and trees

We (I did actually help out and plant these - I leave the heavy lifting for my big strong man!) also planted some mums in our planter boxes out back.

Road Trip!

Michael and took a little trip to Hanging rock state park and saw some beautiful waterfalls and some amazing scenery. It was a fabulous day, slightly cool, but sunny and Michael packed us a pic-nic lunch. We went to the first set of waterfalls and then stopped to eat our lunch (you work up quite an appetite hiking a whole 3/10 of a mile - HAHA!) Anyway, then we hoped in the car (the only way to hike) and drove down to another Set of falls where we did hike some more (1/2 mile this time). The falls were unbelievable and we had a great time. A sweet couple even offered to take our picture - I guess we had that look about us (please take our picture!!). So, my suggestion is that if you can make it up to hanging rock around november it is pretty impressive.

Nice Picture

Some friends of ours took this picture at a wedding we went to over the summer and I just wanted to share it - so hard to take a good picture of the two of us when one of us ends up holding the camera. More to pictures to come. Have a great day!

A Beautiful Thing!!!

A girlfriend of mine got married last weekend and it was a beautiful thing! I have known Leslie since high school when we hung out in Church youth group together. We ended up at the same college for a year and kept in touch after college. It's one of those relationships that has stood time and distance. I have to say I have been part of many weddings but this one was especially sweet for me. Leslie, we wish you and Brian a fabulous first year and wonderful life together! Thanks for letting me be a part of it. The first picture is of the bride an hour before the wedding and then one of us ladies watching the sunrise at her bachelorette weekend, and then our luncheon out with the girls the day before the wedding. What a great time we had! I also ended up calling some family members and thanking them for all they did at my wedding that made my day so special! What a sweet reminder that a wedding is not about the bouquet, cake, decorations or food but about the covenant and commitment between a couple made before God, family and friends. Sorry if this seems random - but I took Benadryl and have felt foggy all day ( or at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking too it!)

Kitten in a Bag

So how cute it Titus!! Michael and I were working in the office and came across a paper bag, then well the rest is history. He did not want to come out - I started to leave the room and he came out of the bag and then ran back in when I came back in the room. In the other picture he is playing king of his castle on some mattresses we had in our hall. He was actually sleeping on the top of it for a while. He is still a little lacking on the social skills (hisses and growls-yes growls). Anyway, there's our little Titus update. He's still Mr. Bigstuff around here!

Per Request!

Well, I was given a gentle hint to update my blog. So as of now Michael and I are at Concord, NC for the weekend. Why Concord? Two words. HUGE MALL!!! I apparently married very well, what husband willingly takes his wife into shoppers paradise and gives her cold hard cash to spend! He's so fabulous! We left out Saturday morning and headed straight to the mall (no time to waist!) and were amazed at all shopping possibilities. I bought some clothes at the gap outlet and Old Navy (my favorite places!) found some shoes for a wedding I'm in Sept. 15th and we had some yummy food at a Chili's in the mall (that's right Chili's in the mall - I started to fell a little light-headed, but maybe it was the 10 laps around the mall!). I also found a fabulous red purse! In other news Micheal and I have been busy teaching Sunday school at church visiting family and have found ourselves in Raleigh for haircuts, bridal showers and time with family. We have recently put up ceiling fans, Garage doors, and outdoor storage sheds for the house. The house is coming together slowly but surely - we've picked out paint colors so hopefully the actual painting will be soon to follow! We are getting more settled here in Winston it's taken a bit longer than expected but we are really enjoying Winston and are already looking forward to spending the Holiday's here.

Our 2nd Anniversary

Here we are on shores of Myrtle Beach for our 2nd Anniversary! It has been a wonderful 2yrs - It is amazing how God has blessed us over the past few years. There have been some changes in location and jobs, but God has drawn Michael and I closer together through it all. Mostly we have fun together and love hanging out - I am truly blessed with a fabulous husband!
While in Myrtle we went to the aquarium and had a blast - it was so cool!!!
As if all of that was not enough my sweet Michael had dinner ready for me when I got home from work on the day of our Anniversary. He also had two dozen roses - pink and white, my favorite! Anyway - no doubt I've made some those reading this go into sugar shock, so I'll quit before any of you go into a sweetness overload!

A Good Day!!!!

Michael and I branched out of our normal North Carolina touring and headed up to VA. Beach to see my brother and Sister-in-law along with their three darling daughters! We had a fabulous day of garage sales in the morning and a fantastic afternoon at the beach! What a day, I think I'll do it all over again tomorrow! Enjoy the pics!

My blond bombshells having fun in the Sun

Watching my handsome hubby play in the ocean!


Hanging out with one of my wonderful nieces!!!


Me doing what comes most naturally to me at the beach - Nothing!!!

Our new place!

Here is a picture of our new place in Winston-Salem. We are so blessed that God has provided such a beautiful home. We are slowly but surely getting settled and getting pictures up on the wall and out of the garage (our goal is to actually park our cars in there sometime in the future - I'll keep you posted on how that goes). Pretty self-explanatory the first picture is our living room, second is our kitchen and last is our living room. I'll post some more pictures soon!

A little encouragement!

I found on www.backtothebible.org some great words of encouragement from the bible (great place to get encouraged right?!). Below is a selection from a book called "Streams in the Desert" and then a selection from Elizabeth Elliot - a fabulous woman who lives a life seeking to glorify Christ in all she does. Enjoy and I pray we all take time out today to see that life is more than just the day to day is a personal relationship with Christ that makes all the difference!

http://www.backtothebible.org/custom/executequery-12.html

http://www.backtothebible.org/custom/executequery-17.html

The big 30!!!

That's right, the darling 20-something drama queen actually is now 30! Hard to believe, but it's true. So in the spirit of not wanting to grow up I had my birthday party at a local inflatable toy arena. Ages young and old had a great time and in the words of some of my nieces "this is the best birthday party ever!". Anyway, thanks those who came or were there in spirit! Thirty is not so bad I still feel "twenty-something", but the name of my blog will be changed to "a day in the life of a 30 year old drama queen" - maybe by 40 I'll ignore all the drama in my life and just move on!!! Not likely though. HAHA!

Our Christmas

Michael and I had a great Christmas! We are truly blessed - it was a crazy busy month but it was so good to hang out with each other and our family! Here we are opening some of our gifts and even Titus got into the act! Had a great time!

Washington DC trip - Part Three!

Here we are at the National Cathedral - so georgous!

The Back of the White house. Thought it ws the front (shows what I know!!
We went up to the Washington monument - I had always seen it when I was in DC and I finally went up to it and saw it close up - so amazing!
Well, sorry it took me so long to blog all this!! Anyway, enjoy!

Washington DC trip - Part Two!

On our Second day in DC we went to the Zoo and had a great time. It was cold but we still got to see some animals. A baby panda fell asleep in this tree and mama was pacing around until he woke up from his nap.
This beaver was so cute! I had forgotten that beavers have poor eye-sight and so he was hunting around for his food. He was also much bigger than I thought (so clearly he had no problem finding the food despite the bad eyes!).
Here we got our own special show of a trainer working with a baby seal (1 yr old). It was cool to see him follow her commands and await anxiously for his treat, which he ate a ton of by the way!


Here is a gorilla (I think - the are so many different kinds of primates). They were in this house for the winter so we went in there and watched them run around and play. It was a great zoo and it was exciting to see a small sampling of the different animals God created.

Our DC Trip part 1

Michael and I headed up to Washington, DC in December and had a fabulous time! Michael's former room-mate from Seminary let us use the the guest room he and his wife have at there place right outside DC. We could walk underground through a "mall" to the metro and get where we needed to go - it was so cool just to ride the metro. Anyway the first night we headed out to Ben's Chilibowl. It was fabulous chili place with a fun atmosphere!
The next day we headed to the Washington Mall and headed to the National Air and Space Museum. You can see Michael with an astronaut and me with Kermit the frog. The American History Museum is closed for almost 2 years for renovations so they brought some of the "Treasures" over to the Air and space museum, so you get two museums in one.