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.

Oh Christmas Tree!!!

One of our first traditions it seems as married couple started before we were even married. While we were dating we went to pick out a Christmas tree after Thanksgiving dinner at his parents house in the mountains. This tradition has lasted for the past three years and we love it!! To walk off the food induced coma after a large Thanksgiving meal and we go out to Mountain Memories Christmas farm and pick out our tree. It really is a beautiful place and we love going up there. They remember us from years past and we end up chatting with "the guys" a little before we leave. It's so much fun! Above is my very handsome (and rather lumber jack looking husband!) and below is the finished product!
Enjoy our fun and funky-looking tree! We thought the silver garland was a nice touch! Merry Christmas everyone!

Giving Thanks

This past Thanksgiving we went up to my in-laws and cooked up a storm! I had so much fun and was very thankful that everything turned out so tasty! Or at least "my friends tell me" I'm a good cook (only Jane Austin fans will get that reference to Sense and Sensibility). His brothers also joined us so we had a nice time chatting and playing with our little niece Kaitlyn.

I don't mean to sound cliche' but Michael and I are so thankful for all the Lord has done for us this year. There is the many blessings that He provides for us like a house, food clothes and then He goes above and beyond and allows us to deepen our relationship with Him through those un-expected situations in life (trips to the hospital, job changes, etc). I was just thinking today how sweet it is that God uses all things for His glory and our good. No matter what our take on the situation is! I often think of my favorite verse that has gotten me through many situations in my life - "And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and for those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28. So all that to say we are very blessed and thankful for all that God brings us through.
Sorry for the late post of Thanksgiving but look for more adventures with the Rotens soon!!!

Girl Time!

A few weeks ago us girls got together for some totally girly indulgences. We went to Homewood Nursery in Raleigh and looked at all the Poinsettias they have for the holidays. After about an hour of wondering around (and a few purchases we could not live without!!) we graced the local Starbucks Coffee shop with our presence and chatted for another hour. Let me just say how blessed I am to have my sister and mom as my closest friends as well. We talked about how God had used so many situations (not all the most fun) to grow us closer to Him and each other! I am so thankful to God for the family He has blessed me with.

Good Cause, fabulous evening

All dressed up and some place to go! Michael and I had the privilege of going to the North Ridge Country Club the other night. Not to hob-nob with the upper crust of "Raleigh's Finest" , but to hear about all God was doing through the Pregnancy Support services of Wake Forest. So actually we think we were surrounded by "Raleigh's finest". This non-profit organization helps women through crisis pregnancies. They also offer counseling for the mothers and fathers on parenting, communication and life skills. I could go on and on about how God is using them in our community. It was a wonderful evening and very encouraging to see God as work so clearly. They were able to raise $75,000 that night through the generosity of the 350 people that attended. How sweet it was to see God move the hearts of those there to be so giving of what he has blessed them with. For more information you can check out their website at www.pregnancywf.org.

Proud Aunty Em

We had the pleasure of welcoming our neice, Adison into the world on october 12th. She is a sweet little girl and I was in love the second I laid eyes on her. My sister and brother-in-law are fabulous parents and are doing very well keeping up with a very good but very active 2yr old and a newborn. Children truly are a blessing and I adore every single one of my 9 neices and nephews.

Pumpkin Carving!!!

My husband (and his very artistic self) helped the Hall kids carve a pumpkin. This is is his first attempt at carving pumpkins. After a few drafts on paper they came up with this fabulous pumpkin face. So excited that fall is here, the cool weather is a nice change and reminds me that the holidays are right around the corner - AAAAHHHHHH!!! Ok maybe fall isn't so great. JUST KIDDING. I am looking forward to spending time with friends and family and am blessed with everyday God gives me here on this earth.
Enjoy the pictures.

OH DEAR!!!!!

Oh Dear (rather, Deer) is right. So after our fabulous trip to Winston-Salem, we ended up right back there 2 weeks later to be with my father-in-law as he had to be in the hospital for a few days (he's fine by the way). Well our first evening there we were going to spend the night with some friends there in town, and I had a chance encounter with a deer. Suffice to say from the picture - the deer won. As my husband said "Honey, you did not hit the deer, the deer hit you". Well, I am fine, my car is a little worse for the wear but in the shop getting all "gussied up". The deer even walked away with only a scratch. And a word to the wise - be careful driving around back roads at night!

Birthday Trip!

Well my seet husband turned 34 this month and we wen to the Dixie classic fiar in Winston-Salem. We love Winston and who can resist all the yummy food at the fair. And as fate would have it the Stanley cup was there and I got my picture with it. It was so cool, we showed up early just to make sure we knew where to find it and low and behold (light shinning down from "above" here) there was the official stanley cup man, his white gloves and a rather large blue case (stanley cup enclosed). They pulled it out and started forming a line and allowed people to go a head and get their pictures taken. So Michael and I waited all of 5 minutes and then stood inches from "the cup" and had our picture taken. I'm thinking CHRISTMAS CARD!!! Anyway, we had a nice weekend and most of all I got to pamper my wonderful husband and spend time with him. I must say, I am one blessed woman and God was gracious when He brought Michael and I together. Happy Birthday Darling!!!

Good friends fun weekends

We have had some busy weekends the past few weekends, but it has been fun. Two weeks ago we had some friends come up from Hickory with thier kids and amazingly enough we fit 4 adults 3 teenagers and 6yr old in our house - not too shabby. There are some pics of us playing in our back yard and enjoying a nice fall evening. The following weekend we went with some friends to Wrightsville beach, NC for the day on Saturday. We went with them and thier two kids - it was a beautiful day, 76 and sunny. We came across this fabulous burger joint and had our fill of burgers, fries and milkshakes - YUMMO (as Rachel Ray would say). Anyway, goodtimes were had by all. Sorry about the delay in postings enjoy the pictures and now that I have my own laptop, hopefully there will be more post to come.

Gardentime!

Well, one of michael and I fun things to do together is garden. I have never been much of a green thumb but michael on the otherhand is quite a gardener. We (and I'm using the term loosely - michael did most of the work) cleared out the corner of out yard where there were tons of little trees growing and it just looked to unkempt. So after much hard work and many a cold beverage fetched (my special job) we cleared it out and put some lounge chairs that his brother gave to us and that yours truly has to clean (so they have not been sat in yet). Anyway, we also mulched up a storm this past weekend and got rid of that huge pile of mulch we had in our driveway. Wow, that was a job! I also included a piture of my impatence, I'm quite excited about how they have filled out my little flower garden area. Anyway enjoy the pics.

Our First Anniversary

It's wild that a year has gone by since Michael and I got married. So often we talk about what a great year it has been. We have learned so much about eachother and ourselves. It seems second nature to hang out with eachother. Among the exciting activites is watching food network or HGTV taking our bikes out for a ride or heading to winston-salem, our favorite get-away town. In fact that's exactly what we did for our first anniversary. We took a stroll down memory lane. We went out to dinner at the resturant that Michael proposed to me at and we almost sat in the exact same spot (about 3 tables back). Then the next day we went to Old Salem, our first "traveling date". Shortly after we started dating Michael and I went to Old salem for the day, had a pic-nic lunch and drove around winston-salem, so it was a very special place for us. It was a nice get-away and a fun time of reminising over our time together so far.

Adventures w/Michael and Emily

Well, finally posting again w/a list of Well, finally posting again w/a list oadventurous times in the lives of the Roten's. Here I am at my In-laws trying my hand at sewing. It was fun! Then, our adventures in cooking! Thus far cooking has been an elusive concept to me but finally, feeling very Rachel Ray I made this scrumptious Chicken cacciatore. Man was it good, so we may be off to a good start (look for me soon with my own show on Food network!). And last, we got a free pile of mulch delivered to us. It's the program the town has that any of the trees they cut down they mulch and drop off loads free for anyone who wants them. The part they don't tell you is that they show up at 7:15 on Saturday morning (seriously they did, no warning, just started knocking on our door). Well, it was free so what can you say. Clearly Michael and I have our labor day weekend mapped out for us (mulch spreading time!). Anyway, not too terribly exciting but a little look into our "humble Hum-drum Lives", as Lena Lamont from "Singing in the Rain" would say.