Camping

A few weekends later the weather was PERFECT for camping. Thank goodness we didn't choose one weekend before because we had lots of storms and tornadoes in the area that weekend!!

Setting up all our tents. Mandy and Robert provided a blow-up mattress for Abbie since she was 39 weeks pregnant! :)

Oh kiddo's.....so cute!

Breakfast burrito's in the morning.






Such a fun time! We headed straight from there to working in kids church Sunday morning - we figured the little kids wouldn't mind. :)

Cooking...cooking...cooking and birthdays :)

I apologize for my SLOWWWW blogging routine! I'm very behind, and hope to catch up soon on everything that's been going on. So this weekend I'm blogging about was actually SEVERAL weekends ago...maybe 4 or 5?? :(
Any whoo, I'll figure it out eventually :)

This weekend consisted of cooking...LOTS and LOTS of cooking...and lots of birthday fun!

Friday after work started with me doing grocery shopping to cook for an entire month in ONE day!

If you are ever interested in doing something like this, it is SUPER fun! Yes, it is LOTS of work and you are GASPINGLY tired after your full day of cooking but think about it, then you don't have to cook again for about 15 meals!!!

We followed a website called http://onceamonthmom.com/, it is designed for you and a friend to cook together. They have meals planned out for two families for each month of the year as well as any other information you would need for your cook-day to be a success.

They give you:
~ a complete grocery list (which has insane amounts and proportions on it
as you can only imagine!)
~ a to-do list for your cook-day for Person A and person B
~ complete recipes and packaging instructions for freezing
~ and whatever else you might need

Seriously, check it out if you're interested. I've had two other friends to do it since Abbie and I, and they loved it!

So back to Friday...

Abbie and I divided the grocery list in half, I bought all the groceries on my list and decided to get as much pre-cooking done as I can. (This saved us SO much time)!
This consisted of 31 cups of cooked rice (yes, that would be THIRTY-ONE CUPS!! - I've never cooked that much of ANYTHING at one time in my LIFE!), about 13 pounds of chicken and 2 pounds of ground beef. And no, that was not even close to all the meat we used for all our recipes - Abbie had the rest with her.


Saturday cooking:


This is not quite ALL the food even...




Some more food

All the food when I got home


Thanx to Abbie, who was very pregnant, for doing this with me. (And for taking on all those onions that had to be chopped - lots of crying took place!)

So finally after our 8 hour cook day, I had to run home and find Rob and I outfits to wear to a MURDER MYSTERY surprise birthday party! It was at a masked ball that this murder took place and we had to dress accordingly. We all received our character assignments a few weeks before the party and had to dress accordingly to our character as well.
I have to admit, I was a WEE bit doubtful of how fun and/or awkard this party was going to be, but it was A BUNCH OF FUN!! We all got into our characters - so funny!!

Dr. Mag Niffie (me) and Mike Robes (Rob)


Our characters were:
Dr. Mag Niffie is the rude, ill-mannered optometrist. Her address book is a barren wasteland as there’s not a lot of folks she can honestly call a friend…besides Bameril Lacrosse. Mag’s one hard person to get along with!

Mike Robes is the infamous and overly-inquisitive bioterrorism
researcher. He’s invented mind-blowing bioterrorism counter
devices that you would never even imagine could exist! Some say
he’s an utter genius! Mike’s also known to be a tad paranoid…so
when you’re around him, try to make him feel at ease!
(Get it, "Mike Robes"?) -say it fast.




After a long day of cooking, TIRED, but had a blast :)


And finally, after a late night Saturday, we headed to church in the morning and had another birthday lunch for Mandy

Mavericks game

With perfect timing of needing to break free from our routine, we received a phone call at 4:30pm from a friend of ours. They had free Mavericks tickets 4 rows from the front, behind the benches! The game started at 7:30pm in Dallas, which meant we had to leave by 5:30...which also meant Rob had 15 min to leave work, take a shower and be ready to go (he has a 50 min drive to and from work every day).
We ended up not getting to leave until about 6ish...but don't you worry...we still made it by 7:30!

Just got there, excited to hang with friends and watch the game!


Our awesome seats. I'm used to sitting at the very top...quite a difference!!


Having a good time with friends




Rob chillin' with little Haven. It's all becauswe of her that we got those tickets! Sweet little Haven was born with a heart condition and has been on the transplant list ever since. She received a new heart about 2 months ago and they've had to live in Dallas for a while in a suite that the hospital provides, which is where they receive awesome tickets to games.



Beautiful mom and daughter...SO sweet!


After the game, TIRED, but had lots of fun!


After a very fun day (been up since 5am), we left and didn't get home until 1am and had to get up again at 5am! We loved it, and even though we paid for it with the lack of sleep a couple days after, it was exactly what we needed to break away from our every day routine!

Life as we live it in our jobs!

God is so good, so faithful and so gracious when truly we don't deserve it!!

Rob and I are so blessed! We both have amazing jobs that the LORD gave us, and we both really love our jobs and are so thankful for them. It's so refreshing to see my husband work hard at the plant farm to bring money in and love every moment of it! And all I can do is thank you Jesus because He's the one who blesses us repeatedly, when we simply don't deserve it!

Me on the other hand, never WANTED to be a nurse. I basically felt forced into it with no other options of receiving a green card. During my 4 years of college (actually 5, because I did psychology also) I just had to persevere and hope that in the end it all will be worth it.
Well the end came, and I married the love of my life 2 weeks after I graduated with my nursing degree. It ended up being much faster and easier to get my green card through marriage instead of nursing ...whoopty doo!

BUT....

God always knows what He's doing! As I started looking for nursing jobs I had no idea in what area I wanted to work. All I knew was I did not want to work night shifts, but I quickly found out as a knew nurse it was basically impossible. Everybody asked me to work nights at least a few months on the floor.

Until...

I randomly bumped into someone I knew from nursing school. He asked what kinda work I wanted, I said I don't care as long as it is days. He told me about a day job that his brother has. Couple days later I bump into his brother and he immediately says "hey, my boss is looking for you!" Within a couple hours I went for an interview. And today I have a job that I never knew I could enjoy this much as a NURSE! I cannot possibly think of a more perfect job for me. How good is He!!!?

And here's what I do...



Yes, that would be heart surgery. God gave me a job where we work on people's hearts every day. It is with great hours during the day and no weekends (except for being on call sometimes). I work with a great team of 10 people and great surgeons who I have much respect for.

We are humbled by how God has blessed us, and we want to strive to remain thankful no matter our circumstances because we know that God gives and takes away whenever and however He pleases all for His glory!

It's beginning to look a lot like Fall

I LOVE the first signs of Fall! We've had cooler weather for about a week now and it is so refreshing. Though we know the cooler weather will only last for a little while until the summer temperatures battle back again. The summer and fall temperatures here will battle each other probably until about November, but that just makes us appreciate each time the cooler weather makes it's appearance. Rob has been bringing lots of fall plants home that isn't perfect enough to sell (yay for me!) ...so we've been working on transforming our yard from summer plants to fall plants. Basically so far it's just been Mums and Petunias, soon we'll be planting Pansies, we're just waiting for the weather to get a little more cooler.

All of these pictures are just showing our work in progress, can't wait for all of it to bloom. I'll post more pictures when it all is at it's fullest potential!







And these are some pictures of our back patio. I have yet to blog about my sewing adventures, but I will soon for sure! In December I picked sewing up as a hobby, I've basically just been teaching myself from ground zero and LOVING it! In these pics you'll also see my cushions and pillows that I made for our patio furniture :)



Still working on this cushion...




Enjoying our patio-in-progress, plants and great weather!


Soon we're gonna have to say bye to our Coleus! They've gotten really big, and we've cut them back several times already.


And these flowers are just for fun. Aren't they gorgeous!? I don't know what they are, but when Rob showed up with them from the store I immediately loved them!


And I love Gerbers!

Stuck in between two languages

Do you ever wonder what it's like to be living in another country, speaking a different language? Well...probably not, but today I'm gonna give you guys just a small glimpse of what it is like. Yes, for me it has been TEN YEARS...(unbelievable!!) since we moved here, and Rob likes to tell me often that I can't play that card anymore, but I beg to differ! And here's why...

- The guessing-game
Most people can't believe it when they hear that English is my second language...you see, they are fooled by my almost non-existent accent. But then when the time comes (and it is WHEN, not if) that I speak all confidently like the other night, and use the word "refinished" instead of "refurbished" to describe my computer...that I get dumb-founded stares from people, and I can see the thought process within them "and I thought she was smart!" It then gets worse, as soon as I see those stares I immediately know I used ALMOST the right word, but that wasn't quite it, then I start rambling off as many familiar sounding -r-words as I can, hoping I'll get the right one soon. Usually if the people are up for the fun, that then results in the guessing-game of them trying to guess what I was actually trying to say. It can get interesting FAST. :)
I'm actually trained pretty well to recognize those stares, but a lot of times I realize it as soon as the word left my mouth, and it's too late. It can happen with the most simplest of words, it's the ones that I know I know, I just don't use them on a day to day basis. Usually I'm not a 100% sure about the word, but I know I'm close enough that it might be it, so then I weigh my chances, and if it's worth the try I blurt it out and immediately look for a subtle look-response from whoever I'm talking to. I'm pretty good at it! It's especially funny when Rob is with me, because he has picked up on my tactics and enjoys himself observing all of this. (Depending on who we're talking to, if it happens to be people we might be trying to impress a little, he is quickly there to save me).

- Good-ol' sayings
This is when I want to be fancy and use a saying like "hold your horses" for example, but instead "calm your horses" comes out. -usually Rob's response to me very matter-a-factly is, "my horses are calm".

- Stuck in between two languages
This is when while I'm speaking perfectly fine English in a conversation, all of a sudden (and I really have no clue where this comes from, or when it's going to happen) one Afrikaans word slips out in the middle of my sentence! This is usually because there are certain words that are spelled the same in both languages, but would obviously be pronounced completely different in Afrikaans. And sometimes, they just happen to come out pronounced in Afrikaans! Sometimes, if I think it was subtle enough, I nonchalantly continue talking trying to fool them that did not just happen. Usually people will go along with it. Except for Rob, who I think patiently waits for those words to come out, and then gladly tries to repeat it back to me in Afrikaans. I can NEVER get away with it with him.

Talking about Rob and Afrikaans. Here are a couple of videos of how it usually goes when Rob is trying to learn to say something in Afrikaans. He really seriously tries to say it a 100% correct, and DOES NOT give up. Me, on the other hand, tries to patiently teach him but just CANNOT keep myself from laughing. It pretty much always ends up being like this.

http://qik.com/video/13692823
http://qik.com/video/13693184

(That went on for probably 20 minutes or so, I would think we are done and then I hear him softly saying 'herder' over and over again, trying to figure it out). It went on and on.

I know all you South-African-Americans can relate with me in this...maybe not exactly in these things, but we all have our little weird corks. (Ok, here I just asked Rob if the right way of saying weird corks, is weird corPs, and was corrected, and then given very sweetly a definition of 'corps'. Thank you, love, but I KNOW what a corps is...I just couldn't remember the right way of saying weird CORK! ...but I was close, wasn't I?) :) ...Anyway, I also know all of you who have been around me enough have experienced most of this with me. Now you know I know! All of you who usually try to act nice about it, feel free next time to humor me and take part in the fun...I make fun of myself ALL THE TIME. That is part of the fun of being in this country and loving it! :)

PS. Part of the downfall of English as my second language, is tenses, spelling, and...just not saying things right! So for those of you who are particular on these things, I apologize! In order for you to keep reading my blog, you are just gonna have to learn to look over it. Enjoy the fact that you are reading a humble South-African's blog who seems like she should have this English language down, but in fact is now stuck in between two language - great in neither. Because believe me, speaking Afrikaans is a whole other story...

The rest of our household...

It is now time to introduce Mr. Black and Mr. White. I have to confess though that yes, I refer to our two cats as Mr. Black and Mr. White, but they have actually never been 'named'. We've only given them 'titles' -if you will- for the sake of all our friends and family that can't believe we didn't name our cats. Why you may ask? Well, I grew up with lots and lots of cats, and I have never known ANY cats to respond to their names...only to your voice. So, with Rob and I already not being the most creative on names, we decided what's the purpose anyway if they're not gonna respond to it? Usually the next question from most people is, what do we say if we want to distinguish one from the other? Well, we keep it simple with calling them the black one and the white one. We have our way of telling them apart :)

When we first decided on getting the cats it was mainly me who wanted them. Rob just wanted to get them for my sake. He was determined that he has never been a cat-lover and never will be, including these cats. I took these picture within minutes of arriving home with the two little things. It was love at first sight:



They really are the sweetest cats. More so than the ordinary, most people that know them agree. They basically want to cuddle with ANYBODY the entire time, and they trust everybody...including my little nephews in this next video. McCade and Dylan can't get enough of these cats, they can't wait to come visit me and Rob, not so much because of us but more so because of this: (I can't get the videos to work, so the best I have for now is a link)
http://qik.com/video/13656477

And this is the day that we had their manhood taken away, right after getting home from the vet. They were so OUT OF IT and dizzy. It was so funny. The video is 2 and a half minutes long, but the end is the best, so fast-forward it to the last 45 seconds or so if you don't want to watch the whole thing. So funny, I was snickering the whole time...
http://qik.com/video/10474722

Here we are...

We made it! I've been wanting to create a blog for quite a while now, and finally...HERE WE ARE! The more I contemplated about creating a blog, I just LOVED the idea of having all our little (and big) memories documented and shared. After a year of marriage Rob and I reflected back on everything we did and learned, and I found myself wishing that we documented it. I just don't journal as much as I used to, and Rob and I would usually get back from a great event and realize "SHOOT, we didn't take any pictures!" So, I'm hoping to create this blog as a reminder to cherish our daily lives, no matter how big or small the events.

There's several blogs that I love following and reading, as soon as I figure out how to put you on my follow list, I will! (I think this took me way too long to figure out how to do all this...and I actually thought I was decently internet savvy!)

I have lots of things to post to catch up on everything. But for now, here's an update of what's been going on with Rob:



Uh...wanna say SCARY!!?? That's what I thought when I randomly received this text while rob was out shooting guns with some guys, and I was just chilling with some girls. Rob's face came a little too close to the gun he was shooting and that was the end result. Ouch.