Three Things You Did Not Know About Me

Once again it is Tuesday and I am participating in the MckLinky Blog Hop!  What a great way to meet new people in the Blog World!  So here we go a few things you did not know about me!  

1.  Some of you might know this, but for my new readers I have a twin sister.  Here name is Amie and she is my best friend.  I do not got a day without talking to her.  We were born two minutes apart, but the special thing about us is my mom did not know she was having twins until she delivered us.  When Amie and I were born we weighed two pounds and we were born two months early.  Check out my sister's blog here!  She has the two cutest boys!  

2.  I was born and grew up in Billings, Montana.  Montana is a beautiful place and I love going home for visits and truly appreciating the beauty of Montana and the Big Sky!  I went to Billings Senior High School and Montana State University Billings.  So if any followers new and old have been to Montana please leave me a comment!

3.  I love all things Chocolate!  I do not go a day without having a glass of chocolate milk.  It is how I start my day.  I love Skinny Cow chocolate milk.  In fact I feel some what weird if I don't have a glass of chocolate milk.  My favorite is dark chocolate.  I love dark chocolate M&M's and Dove dark chocolate.  I try not to eat to much, but I would skip dinner for dessert any day!  

Fun Stories and Wonderful Memories with the Linam's

Saturday Evening we had the opportunity to have the Linam Family over for Dinner.  It is always great times when we all get together.  I especially enjoy Ashley's company, she is a breathe of fresh air and always puts a smile on my face.  The funny thing about us girls is that we both are married to Chad's and it makes it interesting for conversations and determining which Chad we are talking about.  It was especially interesting when we played Phase 10 Master's Edition.  Both Chad's did great playing the game and in fact they were tied up until the end of the game and in the end My Chad won the game!  Ashley's baby Avery was with us too and she was the best baby all night!  I got to hold her for a little bit and she has grown and changed so much since I last saw her over the fourth of July.  I appreciate Chad and Ashley for taking time to spend Saturday evening with us.  We have enjoyed getting to know you both and look forward to many more card nights.  The only thing that I did not enjoy was cutting my finger while cooking dinner.  No stitches were needed, but a nice deep cut on my pointer finger was remaining at the end of the evening.  

Have a Happy Monday My Friends!  

Early Birthday Present for Melissa

My 30th Birthday is 18 days away.  My darling husband Chad let me open a gift early and I was so excited as this never happens.  In fact normally he will give me a hard time and talk about how great my gift is before my birthday, but never lets me open a single gift.  Trust me I try every YEAR.  But this year it was a different story.  He let me open my gift because he was not sure if I would like it and it had a short return policy.  Guess what I got!  I got a MacBook Air!  I love it!  I can't wait to spend more time looking at all the details and getting to know my new computer.  

Thank you to my amazing husband for the awesome birthday gift!  I love it and I love you TONS!

My Foyer/Entry Way - Show Us Where You Live Friday

Come on in and take a look at our Foyer or Entrance to the Stafford Home.

When you enter into our home you see our entire main living space. You can see our formal dining room, our living room, and our kitchen... it is a big open space. Which I love... it is great for entertaining and having wonderful parties.

I just love our foyer stand with the big beautiful mirror and tall glass lamps. It is a BIG statement when you enter our home!

I hope you enjoyed the Foyer and Entrance to our Home as much as I do. Don't forget to stop by Kelly's Korner and take a look at all the great homes. After several weeks of looking at each of the homes I have my favorite home stops and I just love stepping into their homes for the day. Here are a few of my favorite stops:

Timeless Paper

Lamberts Lately

The Linam 3

Kelly's Korner

What are your favorite stops?

Summer Reading

This Summer I have tried really hard to enjoy a few books and not watch too much TV. I think that I am doing a good job of not watching TV at night. We spend the evening eating dinner and than most nights Chad and I take Bella on a walk. It is a great time to enjoy the cool summer breeze. Before going to sleep I try to pick up a book and read. Did I mention to you that I have three books started right now. I never do this but they all interest me and I wanted to get a sense of each book. So what am I reading....

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong. I picked up this book during the time that we were going through IVF and I thought that it would be a FUN read, but I never got a chance to read it. Now that I am reading it it is a FUNNY and Heather is a great writer. If you have had a baby and need a funny read about being a first time mommy it is so funny and I am sure all new mommies can relate. The other fun fact is that Heather Armstrong has a blog and if you don't follow it you should it is GREAT. This book is like reading a VERY LONG BLOG.

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan. During church our pastor talked about this book and Chad read it on the plane to and from one of his business trips and he said it was AWESOME. Chad does not read books very often and he said that I need to read this book. It is about how we live our life each day and if we live for a Eternal Life. So far the book is very eye opening and challenging. I look forward to finishing it soon. I will update everyone once I finish and give you my thoughts on this book.

Twilight Saga Collection by Stephenie Meyer. I have started the first book of the Twilight Series as my friend Kendall really thinks that I will enjoy the series. I saw the movie so the first book is hard for me to read as I know what is happening already before I even get through the book. But I really want to get through the series by the end of the summer. I hope that I can get into this book a bit more so I can finish and move on to the next book. I have heard such great things about the books that I can't wait to see what all the excitement is about. Wish me luck!

I would love to hear what everyone else is reading this Summer. So leave me a comment so I can add more book ideas to my list of reading. Have a Happy Summer of Reading!

MckLinky and Favorite Photo

I am participating in the Blog Hop thru MckLinky and today is show your favorite photo. I just love this photo of me and my two favorite boys. This picture was taken when my sister was visiting me in NWA. I love how Aidan is looking at his brother Drew. Now it is your turn join the Blog Hop! Happy Tuesday My Friends!

***Replace this line with your content. This week, on TUESDAY, 7/7/09, the theme is A FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH. Post up one of your favorite photographs and a caption that tells the audience about it. Here is a sample: http://mcklinky.blogspot.com/2009/07/mcklinky-photo-blog-on-tuesday-sample.html Do not change any part of this snippet of code except for this paragraph only.... replace the text that falls between (and includes) the opening and closing asterisks. Be sure to enter your own link to your own blog hop post as soon as the blog hop starts!***

4th of July Weekend Recap

What a great weekend we had! We have been busy this weekend and have enjoyed every moment of it! I have decided that life is too short to worry and stress over things that I cannot control so I have spent time really enjoying life with my handsome husband. Many people don't know but this weekend would have been the weekend that we would have shared with everyone that we are pregnant. But we all know how that turned out. (We are not pregnant!) We are still spending the summer TTC on our own and putting it in God's hands. I would say that it is difficult for me to do this as I so badly want to be pregnant before my 30th birthday on July 29th, 2009. I just have to continue to have faith that God has a different plan for me. The subject of my 30th birthday will be a post for another day, but for now I would like to share with you all the fun moments we had over the 4th of July Weekend.

First it all started with a BIG 4th of July Bash at the Jolliff's House on Friday night. They have a wonderful home on the lake and it is so peaceful and I feel so relaxed when I am out there. Susan and Rick Jolliff had a wonderful cookout planned with great food, desserts, and tons of fireworks. I really enjoyed meeting new people and creating new friendships. Thanks Ashley and Chad for inviting us to the party! As we left the party at 11PM on Friday night we were left driving home with a very low tire. Not sure what happened from the time we got to the party to when we left, but we managed to get a low tire and we are very lucky we made it home. So around midnight Chad was feeling up the tire and checking the tire pressure. Saturday morning Chad took our Jeep to Walmart, because all the dealerships were closed, and we ended up having a hole in the tire. Which left us with ordering a new tire and putting the spare on until this Friday. Just our luck both vehicles are having problems. We don't get Chad's truck back until Wednesday. So for the next few days we will carpool back and forth to work. All and all everything will work out.

For the 4th of July we spent the day running a few errands and that morning we decided that we would have a few friends over for pizza and a few games. I was thinking that Papa Murphy's pizza would be great to have, this way I did not have to cook. However it turns out that on the 4th of July they are closed. I was actually shocked that they were closed, so this left me to cook pizza. Oh well it turned out GREAT! I made three pizzas and chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes... YUMMY! Thanks to the Jones Family, the Linam Family, and the Soto Family for enjoying us for a great evening of fun and laughter. We played a few rounds of cornhole and talked and laughed for hours. I especially enjoy creating summer memories with our friends and I look forward to many more cookouts before the summer ends.

Today Chad and I enjoyed the wonderful sermon on Freedom at Church. Do you enjoy your freedom and think about your freedom each and every day? What if it was taken away from you, think about that, if freedom was taken from you what would you do differently? I know that I would do a lot of things differently. I would enjoy every moment of every day, I would breathe in the air a bit deeper, I would enjoy every moment with my husband, I would love on my dog Bella, I would embrace my friends and family and tell them how much they mean to me, and I would take the moment to enjoy life around me with no regrets and smile more. Now it is your turn take a moment and think about all the things that you would do differently if freedom was taken away from you or think about what freedom means to you.

I hope that everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend as much as I did! I would like to close this post by asking you to please stop by Kate McRae's site and say a few prayers for her and her family. Kate is fighting a battle, she has a massive brain tumor and needs as many people and angels watching over her. I know my heart is sad for this precious little girl and I know that God is watching over her and in time will heal her little body. Please pray and show your love and support to this family.