Happy New Year!!!

Ok, so I have quite a bit that I wanted to post, so just bare with me and enjoy the pictures! This first set of pictures were of my wonderful attempt to make truffles (which were a HUGE success I might add). I made these truffles as Christmas gifts to my family. These truffles along with chocolate chip cookies and chocolate covered pretzels were in this cute little Christmas tin... If you have ever attempted to make truffles it can be a messy experience, but with the help of YouTube, my success rate went through the roof! I made two types of truffles: peanut butter truffles rolled in cocoa powder and/or graham cracker crumbs, and I also made a cookies and cream truffle rolled in oreo cookie crumbs. So the pictures that you are backwards as far as the order that it happened, but I'm too lazy to fix it! Besides, I have a lot more pictures to post, so here is Round 1.


Cookies and Cream truffles


The peanut butter truffles and some cookies and cream


Karnell getting the measurements right... such a helpful guy!


The peanut butter ganache that needed to harden in the fridge


The beginning stages of the peanut butter truffles

Way too long...

Ok, so it has been way too long for me... I can't believe I've stopped blogging. It has almost been two months! I have had so much going on that I didn't blog... no excuse, I know,but it's the only one I've got! So, since my great- grandmother's birthday, we've had Thanksgiving, and soon we will have Christmas.

Now keeping with tradition (well my tradition anyway), Christmas can't officially get here until after my birthday passes, which will be this Saturday! I won't disclose how old I am, for sadly, I'm in denial! I've always loved birthdays, even if that means I was born during a sucky time of year. This year is so different, I just dread turning a year older. I know that I'm still quite young, but the number itself just seems so old. Ok, I'm starting to get depressed... moving on!

On a brighter note, I will be heading home on Friday (19th) and I won't be back in Springfield until the 28th! Now that is something I'm very excited about!

Ok, so Karnell and I haven't taken many pictures together because he typically isn't around me a lot...( he works a lot). So, here in the past week, I've taken a few. The one's of us sitting together were taken on our date night to Old Chicago... man, if you haven't been there, you should make a serious effort to try and go, their Sicilian Pepperoni Rolls are to DIE for! The other pictures are of Karnell trying to clean his windshield, without much success... Stay tuned for birthday and Christmas pics!

105... and still counting!

This is my great grandmother... her name is Rodell Walker and she just turned 105!

My great grandmother is a huge inspiration to my family and I thought how appropriate to blog about her. If you ever get the chance to meet her, you will leave a completely changed person. I don't see how anyone that is as old as her can't have any wisdom. It is like she know's the "key" to life or something!

My grandmother has pretty much seen it all! She walks 3 miles a day and has seen all 50 states... 3 times! I haven't seen all 50 states once yet! She doesn't eat anything that we eat... she calls it "death on a plate". I am starting to believe her!

I know that this will probably sound very weird, but when she doesn't pass away, it will be a huge shock to us. We really aren't expecting her to pass away anytime soon. The last time she went to the hospital she was in her early 80's... for gall stones. She truly is the healthiest person I know.

She says that the key to life is to love the Lord, do what's right, and don't worry about anything else. I'm starting to really believe her! She also says to have a glass of wine... it relaxes you!! I love my great grandmother very much. She amazes me and makes me strive to be a better person.

She is in 100% great health. She takes no medicine, and remembers everyone... she even remembers my husband Karnell who she's seen only once... at my wedding (she was 102)! If 105 looks like my grandmother... than bring it on, because I want to live just like her! I love you grandma!

Karnell's Drumming

So for those of you that may not know a lot about me, my husband, Karnell is an amazing drummer. He has been playing for 29 years!!! He's been playing longer than I've been alive! Well, since he is such an amazing drummer he decided to try competitive drumming. Every year there is a HUGE drum off held at Guitar Centers all around the US. It's the biggest drum competition in the world!

Karnell has been in the competition 3 times now. He first played in KC... he didn't even place. Then last year he competed here in Springfield and WON!!! He won the store finals, got some really cool prizes and off to Districts he went...or should I say we went (to Denver, CO). Well that's as far as he got, he didn't win Districts.

Well, this year he decided to compete again. We were very hopeful that he would make it to Districts again this year, and even on to Regionals. Karnell had been practicing for months on this really awesome and totally unique routine. I would sit there and time him... because he only had 3 minutes, and I would also critique him. You know, let him know how it truly sounded, and what he should do to make it better.

So the rules are you have to make it past store prelims, and then compete again in the store finals. Well, Karnell was off to a great start because he won the store prelims. That meant that he would have to come back on October 14 and compete again. This time it would be with all the winners and runner ups from all 3 weeks (6 people total). Well, when October 14 came, he was at a slight advantage because one of the drummers injured themselves and couldn't compete. So, next thing I knew they were drawing numbers to see which order they would play. Karnell was #4. He hates going towards the end, because he hears how everyone else is playing... and it puts him on edge.

Well, needless to say, Karnell didn't win this year. We were both shocked! We were not planning on him losing! I still think that Karnell did an amazing job! So you tell me what you think... Have a great day!

MY ANNIVERSARY!!!!

Well I would like to announce that today, October 1, is my wedding anniversary! Karnell and I have been married for 3 years today! I must say that this 3rd year around, came by rather slowly. Not saying that is a bad thing, it just seems like this particular year went by slow. In this fast paced world, nothing goes slowly, so it's a shock!

Karnell and I have seen a lot together in our 3 years of marriage. More than I would have seen all by myself. Not only have we seen a lot, we have gone through a lot. We've had to be there for each other more that I thought we would have to be.

Also in our 3 years of marriage, we have lost several friends and family. The more I think about it, the sadder I get. When you actually take the time to reflect, you realize that time really has flown by, and moves on.

I love Karnell very much. He is by far my very best friend. Karnell and I just yesterday was reflecting on our anniversaries in the past. Neither one of us can remember what we did last year for our anniversary! Which we find to be very hilarious... sad, but hilarious!

I don't regret the decision that I made to marry Karnell. He is definitely my "one in a million"! I love you babe. Happy Anniversary!

Friends...

This post is a contribution to a very dear and close friend of mine. Her name is Sarah. I went to school with Sarah way back in 3rd grade. Ever since then, we have been really good friends. We have been through a lot and have seen a lot together.

The reason that I am blogging about her is because I want to let everyone know that staying connected as friends is a two way street. Everyone has that "friend" that doesn't ever call them, or email... for all you know, they might not even live in the same city anymore. I would just like to say that Sarah and I have remained good friends for over 20 years!

Now with that being said, I just would like to add a side note. Sarah and I don't talk to each other every single day, and for that matter, we don't talk to each other every week. We are both very busy... she is a wife and has four children and lives in Blue Springs ( KC area), I am also a wife, and I have a very demanding full time job. I live in Springfield, MO.

Even though Sarah and I may not talk to each other for awhile, I know that at any moment, I can call her up, and she will make time to listen. The same applies to me. We also find ways of communicating other than phones... myspace, facebook, emails, blogs, etc. It is in moments like these that I can tell that we are meant to be friends. Nothing gets in our way of staying friends, and when we do talk to each other it's nothing but a good time.

Sarah, I would just like to say thank you for being there for me for over 20 years. You are such an amazing person and a great inspiration to me. Nobody makes me want to have children and be a great wife more than you do. I know that if you can do it, so can I... some day with the kid part at least! Even though we don't talk every single day, I feel very connected to you and your family. My prayer is that we have 20 more years of a truly great friendship. You aren't just a friend to me, you are like a sister. I want you to know that if you need anything, I want you to let me know. I love you and my prayer is that the Lord truly blesses you and your family for being such a dear, sweet friend to me. I love you, Sarah!

My new toy!

Ok, so if you know me at all, you would probably confirm that I am nothing but one big kid! I have my whole life to be "grown up". Well, let me rephrase that... I'm "grown up" when I have to be... Anyway, since I am a 6th Grade Abstinence Education Coordinator, I feel it very important to be able to reach and relate to them. I love entertainment systems... I've had one since the dawn of time. I fell in love with my Game Boy advance, then I upgraded to the Nintendo DS (which I had for over a year). I thought I would never sell it, oh, but I did... Guess what I got in its place... that's right, a PSP!!!! I absolutely love it! I can use it to store pictures, music, video's and games. It can go online, be used as a phone, transfer games from a PS3 to my PSP... it is WAY better than an ipod. I should know, I own one. I would go as far to say it's better than the itouch! Reason being, you can download apple software to my PSP and have the same functionality of an itouch on my PSP... for a fraction of the cost! You should totally get you one! If you do, get the bundle pack: it comes with the PSP, 1gig memory card, charger, battery, a game, and a video all for about 250 bucks brand new! I'm telling you, you won't regret it! So, everyone go get a PSP... you will love it, even if you don't play games, if you have an ipod or a mp3 player of some sort, you will love this! Now that's news you can use!