~ Happy Homemaker Monday ~

Good afternoon everyone!

Today I am going to jump onto my Aunt Sandra's HHM bandwagon and do it with her every Monday!
I am super excited to be doing this because now I actually have a reason to do it. I am a wife, soon-to-be- stay-at-home-mom, and I am officially a homemaker so I am ready to join in!

I'm sure most of you, if not all of you, that read my blog know that my Aunt is Sandra Bourland from Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and I have always admired her beautiful blog.
When we first got here to the States and I found out she had a blog, I just thought "I have to go and see what a blog looks like", (coming from South Africa and not really spending much time on the web, I had no idea what a blog actually was. I've heard of it, but didn't know what it was exactly)

When I first saw her blog and how she expressed herself through a "Digital Diary", I just remember asking her immediately how how I could also start my own blog. She sat with me and helped me set it up, showed me how to make it look like my own little personal getaway and that is something I will treasure for the rest of my life!

Okay...now that I've let you in on how I became a blogger, let's get started on my very first Happy Homemaker Monday - By Sandra Bourland

Breakfast Time....What is on the plate this morning:

Sat down with  bowl of Cocoa Puffs. For some reason this baby loves chocolate flavored cereal and this morning, it just sounded amazing!

Right now I am: 

Just lit up some candles around the house and sitting on my couch typing up this post with Tater-Tot sitting right by my feet.

The weather outside: 

Sunny with clear skies. The temperature is at 70 degrees which is normal for California weather! ;)

Looking around the house:

Needs a little attention after the weekend, nothing major, just the usual tidying up to do...dishes, laundry, vacuum, and maybe a dust here and there.

On today's to-do list: 

Cleaning - Load the dishwasher with last nights dishes. Hubby had already unloaded the clean dishes yesterday morning, so now it's ready for some more dirty dishes. Need to throw a load of laundry in and get that done so I can finish packing for our trip to Idaho on Thursday and then I also just want to do a quick vacuum and dust and I also need to take the trash out.
Physical Therapy - I have my last session of physical therapy today for my jaw. I have been going since August for my TMJ and I feel so much better, so I am pretty excited that this is my last session.

Currently Reading:

I haven't been reading as much as I need to, but I have picked my book up now and then before going to sleep at night. I am currently reading Fifty Shades Freed. Now the only reason I am reading this book is because I haven't read  any of the others, I've only seen the movies and this time before the new one comes out, I wanted to read the book and see if it is better than the movie.
(I'm crazy...I know)

On the TV today:

My Aunt has been telling me to watch The Outlander and last night, I watched the first episode....let's just say I'm already hooked!! LOL
I am going to be watching that while I do my duties around the apartment.
If only I could watch it while at Physical Therapy...LOL

On the menu this week:

I am not looking to make anything fancy this week, especially because hubby and I have used up everything we have in our freezer just in time before leaving for Idaho, so on the menu this week will be whatever hubby feels like.

If I have a few minutes to myself, I will:

Sit with Tater and watch whatever it is I am binge watching at that time.

Looking forward to this week: 

Heading to Idaho with Hubby. He is so excited to go back home and when I see him this happy and excited, it makes my heart grow 10x bigger.
Also we get to see our little Niece and Nephew, so we're pretty excited about that.

Favorite photo from the camera: 

I do love taking pictures, especially of the things I am proud of or that make me happy. Now I do use my phone, I don't have a camera to capture these moments, but that's what this blog is here for as well, so remind me of those special moments in my life...

I took this picture with my mom while in Texas visiting last month. It is my absolute favorite picture and just shows how close my mom and I really are.

Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses: 

My baby niece has been in the hospital pretty much since she came into this world. She has had a rough journey during the beginning stages of her life and we have been asking God for His healing hands over her and those Prayers have finally been answered.

Willow has undergone a total of 2 surgeries, one for malrotation (her intestines were all tangled up around her bowels) and another was because her little veins couldn't handle the IV's so they had to go in and get that all fixed up and she has been in the NICU since, but thanks to our Almighty God, she was able to go home with her mom yesterday and will be spending Christmas with us all!

God truly is amazing!

~ One and Only Christmas Decoration ~

Good evening everyone!

It is Sunday night and I know most of us are dreading the dreadful "Monday" but we just have to take it one step at a time and before you know it, the week will be over again!

Today was not very interesting day, just sat at home with hubby and watched football, took a trip to Albertsons and then came home and started watching WWE Clash of Champions (I still watch WWE, don't judge!)

I have been feeling a whole lot better these past few days. I have had some very bad morning sickness since I found out I was pregnant, and now that my third trimester is nearing the end, I am finally starting to feel a lot better, I have a lot more energy and it is so good to think of something and it actually sound appetizing! LOL

My amazing husband helped me clean the apartment yesterday because my energy is just not all there anymore and we were able to clean the entire apartment and move the furniture around! I honestly don't know what I would do without my husband, he has been so amazing!

This right here is our first Christmas decoration!
When my husband walked out of the store with this in his hand, I actually started crying! We weren't able to get a tree or decorate in any way because we just won't be here, we will be spending Christmas in Idaho with Steven's family and we won't have a house next year to decorate because we would have just left the Marine Corp and will either be staying with my parents in Texas or Steven's parents in Idaho, so when I saw this, it meant the absolute world to me!

 I hope you all have an amazing Sunday night and a Blessed week ahead!
Will be back to chat again tomorrow! :)

~ Finally Back, Big Changes, Still Loving Life ~

So...I'M BACK!!!!

It's been a while, but my laptop broke and I couldn't handle writing up blog posts on my phone. There's just something about typing up a blog post on a laptop...it's kind of therapeutic in m opinion. So now my amazing husband bought me a new laptop as an early Christmas present and I absolutely love it and can't wait to get back to blogging! There is so much happening and I can't wait to take you all on this amazing journey with me!

So I have a surprise for you all....

Meet little Baby James! Deputing July 1st 2018!

It's so crazy! I have wanted to be a mom for so long, but I never thought it would happen so soon.
When I found out I was pregnant, it was a Wednesday morning right after hubby left for work. I don't know what drove me to take a pregnancy test, but I just had this feeling in my gut that something was different, and the fact that my body had started undergoing the changes, but ladies we all know that those changes could mean that time of the month is coming....to put it bluntly.
Anyway, after I took the test, I didn't even look at it because I was finishing up what I was doing. When I finally looked down at the test and saw the positive sign, I can't tell you how happy I was! It took me a while to catch my breath and take in the fact that I was going to be a mom!

After I collected myself, I just thought "I have to tell Steven!" ....now I know what you're thinking, "Why didn't you surprise him?!", well the truth is I couldn't wait, I was just way too excited!
So I called Steven while he was on his way to work and I said the words "you're going to be a dad!"
He thought I was messing with him (like 6:30 am is the time to call him and mess with him! LOL)
From what I heard, my sweet husband started crying and that to me made my heart melt even more!

So we are pretty excited to welcome our beautiful baby into the world!

Another amazing thing that is happening for us, is we are finally moving into base housing and will be able to have more space for us and additional space for the little one :) Also I'm pretty excited that Tater will have a backyard to run around in instead of being hung up in a tiny apartment.

Anyway...it feels good to be back :) I hope all of you have been doing well and are ready for Christmas!

Have a good night everyone! :)