Test Model

Here's a quick post.... with pictures of an adorable little man (specifically the little "big" man I live with.  He's about to be a big brother in two weeks!)

I was getting ready to (try) to do some "real" pics of this little man.  I thought it was going to go swimmingly well because he was so excited as I was trying to adjust my lighting and the backdrop.  

However, after he got his nice shirt on and I got all set, it went downhill.  

Therefore, here are some of the cutest pictures with some of the worst lighting ever! (These are all SOC, fyi)  

Luckily, his cuteness makes up for it...right?  

Yes, I think so. 

"Say 'cheese.'"

At this point, Aunt Whit was funny.

Still funny

Still having a good time...

And this is when we knew we were done... like it or not! 

What's new wit 'choo?

I haven't been around here much.  Sorry about that.  I know you've missed me.  

(I also know you just stopped to scroll up and look at my header because you thought to yourself, "wait, who IS this person?  What blog did I click on?  I just saw the thumbnail photo and wanted to see baby pictures."  That's okay, I don't mind.)

Let's see... where have I been and what have I been doing (besides blogging)... I've been doing laundry, sweeping up dog hair, working, vacuuming up dog hair, changing the sheets because they are covered in dog hair, brushing the dogs and cleaning up dog hair. 

The dog hair is a full time job, peeps, I kid you not.  It's ridiculous!  (look for a separate dog hair post... take your allergy pill before you read it tho... you've been warned.) 

Other than that, we had the holidays, Hubs started first quarter with Monster Jam and I've been piddling around the house two-room mansion keeping myself busy.  It really seems like I should be able to tell you I've read a book or accomplished something really great, but I've just been living life in my own little world.  

Speaking of my own little world, there's a new niece in my world!  And to make up for my blogging absence, I thought I'd post some adorable photos to make your heart melt and then you'll forget how bad of a blogger I've been.  

Good plan?  I thought so too!

Here's Miss Liliann at 10 days old.

And one with her momma

This is her big brother who kept telling me that having me take his picture was ruining his day and making it the worst day of his life

Clearly, it was the worst day ever!

He's giggling under those arms

He also refused to take pictures with his sister in only her diaper.  For this picture, I kept saying, "just talk to her," which resulted in him telling his sister how his Aunt Whit and Mommy were ruining his day.

This shot, however, was pretty much unprovoked, so he wasn't hating it that much.  :) 

He does seem to be loving having a little sister

And I think she loves him, too

little baby + BIG flower = adorable

She's clearly picture perfect!

Getting screwed over may be the best gift of all

Brace yourselves, dear readers.  Here's another excerpt from the AgriNews blog.  Yeah, the title might be a bit misleading (I didn't get screwed over at Christmas or anything...quite the contrary actually) but hopefully it all makes sense anyway. 


Enjoy! 
*~*~*~*~*~*~ 


We all make plans. And I’m not just talking about all the plans we make for the holidays, such as going to Hub’s parents’ house on Thanksgiving and my parents’ on Christmas. 

No, no, I’m talking big plans. Deep plans. Life plans. 

Here, at the end of 2010, I’m doing a bit of reflecting. First, it seems that 2010 went by way too quickly. I’m just now ready for fall to begin, let alone to have it already over. 

I recently got to do one of those interviews that, when I left, I really felt enlightened. Without going into too much detail, I was interviewing a farmer who was fulfilling some major philanthropy projects. 

He has had success and now has the proof to show for it, even though he’s giving quite a bit of it away. 

From multiple farms to owning multiple businesses, this guy is a businessman, and he’s not afraid to admit it. But, with all the fortune he’s found, he said he knows a lot of it came from being at the right place at the right time and being nice to the people he’s met a long the way. 

But the message that stuck with me after this interview wasn’t about his hard work ethic and his perseverance. After all, those characteristics can be found in almost everyone in agriculture. 

The part that got me was this statement: “Whitney, I got screwed over good a couple times before I got to where I am today.” 

It was less of the “make lemonade out of lemons” speech I’ve been hearing my whole life and more of the “Suck it up, don’t be a pansy and move on.” 

Maybe it was the cut-to-the-chase phrase of “got screwed” that resonated with me, but I think that’s a good lesson to put in my pocket for the next time I’m having a rough day. 

There’s a country song that includes the lyric, “You wanna hear God laugh? Tell him your plans.” 

I think we young people — let me hold on to that bit of my youth and consider myself to still be a young person, OK? — have a tendency to make plans for our future and be completely thrown off if something doesn’t go as planned. 

Maybe the thought of being fluid enough to “go with the flow” is a lost art, but it seems that once a plan of mine gets a bit derailed, I get flustered. 

I’m not one to easily “flow.” I’m working on it. 

But as I left that interview, I couldn’t help but think what might have happened to this particular farmer/businessman/entrepreneur if God had just let him follow his plans with out throwing him a bit off course. I don’t know that his companies would exist today or if he would have the capability to help with the fundraisers as he has today. 

As I head into this new year, I’m sure there will be some things come my way that will involve me changing the plans I already have laid out. But I am going to do my best to accept them and roll with the punches. I encourage you all to do the same. 

Who knows what might happen if we open ourselves up to change? I can’t wait to find out. 

Happy New Year!

No Room at the Inn

My mom let me borrow one of her nativity scenes last year and I didn't give it back.  (I will, I will, get off my back!)

This scene was given to her and my dad when they got married.  My grandparents had one identical to it, as well as my aunt and uncle, maybe? (I think they were all purchased at the same time and then gpa or my uncle made everyone a barn...? The story is close to that if I'm not right.)

The nativity is ceramic and glazed in clear so it is bright white.  As a kid, I thought it was SOOOO boring (grandma's set had real clothes that she and a friend or sister or someone apparently stayed up all night one year dressing their nativity people like dolls from their old scraps of fabric.)  But now, I'm digging the simplicity of the white set.  I get it... Mary and Joseph were pretty simple people anyway.

Here's the happy couple

The angel on the top of the barn

The three wise guys (isn't that funny...'the wise guys'? ha ha!) (and yes, the wall really is neon green.... very festive for this time of year!)

One of the shepherds

All the shepherds...

...including one playing a tune...

...and one carrying a lamb (I always wondered if that little lamb wasn't moving fast enough for this shepherd and that's why it got carried)

A look into the barn

This little donkey must be the one that carried Mary (he has a chipped ear, but I don't hold that against him)

I figured this camel belonged to the wise guys.  It looks a bit too ornate to be a shepherd's and not a king's.

And the bull shared his pen with the sheep that came along with the shepherds

Except for this one... it wanted to get closer to Mary

There was no room in the inn (and apparently no lights on in the barn this year!)

Another one with some flash so you can actually see in the barn

But does it seem like there's something missing?  Or, rather, someONE?

In our family, Baby Jesus is the first gift of Christmas and doesn't enter the nativity scene until Christmas morning after we read the Christmas story in the Bible.  So, until then, he waits in the tree, all wrapped up with care. 

This is our tree this year.  It's a bit wild for me -- I am very much a "white light" kind of person, but this year, we opted to use the little tree that typically only has monster trucks on it as our main tree.  (and yes, that's a cardboard wall in the background!  Just keepin' it real here!)

From my family to yours, we hope you all have a very merry Christmas and remember that Jesus is the first and true gift of Christmas!  

My Snow Village (lots of pics!)

 My grandparents (my mom's parents) had a flair for Christmas.  My grandma Willis had Christmas dishes, glasses, towels, linens, etc.  They had Christmas ornaments and special decorations that all meant something to them.

But one of my favorite traditions was the village (specifically a Dept. 56 The Original Snow Village) my grandpa set up every year across the buffet and tables he had built especially to suit the growing village.  There was a part of the village that was the town with city buildings and big fancy houses and then one end of the village was the country scene with barns, livestock, tractors and even an outhouse.  The other end of their village was a woodsy area with a cabin and a pond and even a small airplane.

Their village was my own personal Christmas wonderland.  Even though we weren't allowed to touch it, I loved looking at it and making up the stories about what all the people in the village were up to.  The kids sledding and ice skating looked like they were having so much fun and there was a cow with a wreath around her neck that I just loved.

Long story short, when my grandparents passed away, the village was split up between my mom and her brother (my uncle).  Mom took most of the country scenes and uncle took most of the woodsy stuff (he's a hunter) and they split up the towny stuff.

When Hubs first started coming around, he got a kick out of the village when Mom set it up.  It got to the point that she would set up all the buildings and then let Hubs and I set up all the people and accessories.  She didn't even mind (or say she did) when he slipped a monster truck or two into her village... God bless my mother!

So when Hubs and I got married, the day of our wedding, he sent a gift to me while I was in the "dressing room."  It was a large box and inside was the beginning of our Christmas village: The Silent Night Church.  To make matters even more sentimental, the Silent Night Church looked almost identical to the church we got married in (the church I essentially grew up in.)

Ever since then, we've continued to add to our village each year.  Even though we are in cramped space, we made room to set up the village this year (along with the nativity, but that's another post).

Let's take a tour and see what's happening in the Snow Village, shall we?

An overall show of my village (and the dog crate...things are tight in this little place!)

Here's the church Hubs gave me the day we got married. 

I love the bell

It's completed with decorations and poinsettias. 

This is the piece he gave me for our first Christmas (after we'd been married 1 week)

I love the look on the lady's face!

She was so excited and surprised that she dropped her purse and everything fell out!

But look at that rock! I'da dropped my pocketbook, too! (yes, I said pocketbook)

He also gave me this bus for our first Christmas.  There was a decorated bus involved in our wedding party transportation, so even it has significance to me.

For our 1 year anniversary, I got this little house from Hubs.  We'd just bought our first place that summer.

It's a music house (hence the violin playing snowman)

(did you know you could get these little signs customized?  I didn't, but I could.... just sayin')

That's why he also got this lovely lady shaking on a deal to buy a house.

Doesn't she look happy? (If you've ever bought a house, you may know what a relief it is to slap that "Sold" sign up!)

The next year, Hubs got me this pet shop.

It's the "town-ie-est" thing in my village, but I just love the detail of it...

...like the dogs in the window and the one tied to the hydrant outside.

The same year, he got me this little dog walker to go with the pet shop.  We have three dogs ourselves, so I know what this kid must feel like!

Here's a father/son team dragging a fresh cut tree into their house

This is the house Hubs got me for our 4 year anniversary last year.  I think the candle in the little window at the top is adorable

 Doesn't she look like she's having a blast?

I got this set of sledders at an out of business sale. 

And this guy is right on her tail

Here's another team building snowmen

I got this house this year at an antique store for next to nothing.

This little gal seems to be happy, too.

Why wouldn't she be? How cool to have an igloo to play in?!

She was having fun... until this little punk strolled into the village.

Oh yeah, anyone that has spent any amount of time around kids knows where this is going.

That was my village this year!  However, it's already dated some because Hubs got me a new log cabin to add to it this year and I took all these pictures before then.  You'll have to wait until next year to see it!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Merry Christmas!