The house is OURS!!!!!!!

I can't believe I am actually saying these words, but the house is officially mine and Nick's! God is soo good and his timing is always perfect. We have been waiting since the beginning of August for our house and it has paid off! I can't even begin to describe all the emotional ups and downs there has been, but am thankful to have finally closed on it and we get the keys at 10:00 tomorrow!

All the Christmas Joy!

Every Christmas eve, Nick and I open the presents we got for one another. We think its such a special time for just the two of us to enjoy our own lil Christmas together, as much as we love being with each of our families.

Family Photo

Oh, and before I forget, I want to compliment the hubsman-he always gets me theee BEST gifts, it really blows my mind! I usually don't put in requests because he ends up getting me better things then I even think I want:)!

Carrera Christmas Time

The best nephews around!

My Family's Christmas at my parents in Caruthers

Patrick & Kimber

Rusty, Amanda & Logan

Rusty playing his famous song on the piano, that none of us know the name of, along with some other shots from the day!

Christmas Morning

I am usually never surprised by the gifts I get from my parents on Christmas, partly because I am the one who goes shopping with my mom for everyone, and end up finding things I want along the way haha...but this year, I was completely surprised: My mother got me the Jonathan Adler cup I broke!!!(thanks to my sister-in-law,Kimber for finding it)

Traditional pic on the couch with most of the family & Grams

My niece Alyssa getting ready to open her gifts, from who I like to call her favorite Auntie:)
Christmas Night with part of the Carrera Clan! Getting ready to head up to Ducey's for dinner on the lake.



As we all know, another year has flown by and its almost time to start a new one again! I hope that you were all able to spend time with your families & friends and enjoy all the special moments. I am trying to soak in the last of this year, but am really ready to start a new one, especially with all the stressful things that have been going on! I know this coming year is going to have A LOT of good things in store, along with some bad-I'm sure, but it always feels so great to create a new start, when the new year rolls around.

An update on my Mom!

If you haven't heard, my mom Joani Tucker, had a heart attack on Tuesday morning, shortly after arriving to her work at Valley Childrens. I received a call from one of her coworkers telling my that my mom had passed out and they did not know what was going on. She informed me they called 911 and an ambulance was on the way to take her to Clovis Community Hospital. Apparently they decided they could not make it all the way to Clovis, so they turned around and took her to the closest hospital available, St. Angus. Where a doctor in charge of the entire cardiac department was waiting to do surgery on her. They found a blockage in a coronary artery, so they put a balloon stint in the main artery and in 2-3 weeks will have to do two more surgeries on two of her other arteries. As of today, she is still in the hospital and is saying they will let to go home today!But then again, my mom might just be telling me that:), we will see shortly! Please continue to pray for her recovery, upcoming surgeries and our family. This has been a very scary thing for us all. There is already so much going on this time of year; for us its been trying to buy a house, survive Christmas craziness, and then add Mom almost dying to the mix, is VERY overwhelming. We appreciate all the love, prayer and support from everyone. We know that something good will come from this and we truly thank God for sparing her life. Hopefully this will be a wake up call for some of us. Please don't take a second of your life for granted, make time to take care of YOURSELF over your kids or whoever! Try to eat a little healthier and go on a bike ride or something! Don't take a second for granted with family either, you NEVER know when something might change. I can't imagine loosing my mom and this was a big scare. We all need our mommies around for a long time, I talk to mine 2-3 times a day! So please, this Christmas make sure you enjoy every second as much as you can and try not to stress, its very bad on your heart!!!I am being lectured on this one myself:)

After all this, sort of put a halt to many things I had planned this season, including my 25 days of Christmas posts! So I am genuinely sorry anyone who was reading them, I was enjoying posting. Hopefully we can all start up a new year fresh and plan to take on a little less stress!

The winner of the TOMS Start Something That Matters book is...

Sorry this is a day late! but here is the winner and please forgive my embarrassing video!




Thank you for all who entered! I truly appreciate it and really do wish I had one for each of you! But keep watch as I am planning more giveaways in the future!

Day 17:Christmas Party Beauty Must-Have's!

Before heading out to your next Christmas get together, you may seriously want to check out the beauty finds below that I am obsessed with, especially during the holidays!

1. OPI Nail Polish in "Love is a Racket" & "Pros & Bronze" $14.50 I can't get over the new Serena Glam Slam series by OPI! Either one of the two colors are perfect for going to any type of holiday get together and they dry SUPER fast- so you can do it in a last minuet hurry!
   
2. MAC eye Kohl in Smolder $15.00- This is the best eye liner I have found to date. Just one of these pencils has lasted me over 1.5 years... and I'm not even exaggerating- I use it on a daily basis and its still going!
3. MAC Creme D'Nude Lipstick $14.50- This lipstick goes perfect with any eye color look, but I especially love a neutral lip, paired with a dark smokey eye.
4. MAC Full Lash Curler $16.00- Whoever has been telling me eyelash curlers don't work, was wrong! This curler is absolutely fab, it makes my lashes extra curly every-time I use it.
   
5. MAC Prep and Prime $23.00- This silky powder can be used for all shades of skin and provides an invisible way to set your make-up. I sometimes just use it over my foundation and then add a touch of blush or bronzer to give my cheeks some color and don't have to worry about anything looking "caked on".
   
6. MAC Eye Shadow in Black Tied $15.00- (I am blatantly a MAC admirer)This Shadow is perfect for creating a sexy smokey eye. It has little specks of silver in the highly-pigmented powder and looks great when going out!
   
7. VS Baked Mineral Bronzing Powder $16.00- In LOVE with this Victoria's Secret bronzer! It gives just the right touch of shimmer and provides that much sought after radiant glow, during the winter, so I don't look so pale!
   
8. Bare Minerals Well Rested SPF Multi-Tasker for eyes $18.00- I don't know about you, but the holidays are soo busy, that I don't get as much sleep as I usually do. As a result, I end up getting extremely dark circles under my eyes and this product is an absolute life-savor! It was an accidental find and have not turned back since.
   

Day 16: Christmas Tree Lane!

For as long as I can remember, my family has made it a yearly tradition to go down Christmas Tree Lane together. Hubsman and I have walked it many times with friends, but this however, was the first time the fam walked(we usually drive). Grams had so much fun and it thankfully wasn't too cold!

Day 14: Time with Family & Friends! Day 15: Holiday Creamers!

Day 14: Time with Family & Friends!

It seems that no matter what is going on in life, this time of year friends and family all take time out of busy schedules to make sure to see one another. Whether it be at a Christmas party, a school get together or a family celebration, its always good to make sure that we spend time with family and friends, even if it can only be during the holidays!



Day 15: Holiday Creamers!

Obviously, being a coffee lover, I can't wait tell the day companies start selling their holiday creamers in stores! We always stock up with quite a variety of flavors...they are ALL so yummy! If you haven't yet, please try some!

Day 13: budling up myself & giving some warmth!

Yesterday's post I wrote about bundling up my pooch, so today I thought I would continue that thought about how much I love it myself! Its such a wonderful thing, having the opportunity to be able to dress so warmly with scarves, gloves, jackets, boots, socks, etc.,when its freezing(in my opinion)weather! But while I was looking through my endless collection, it made me start to think about how I really have such a variety of each of these and how there are so many people out there who have nothing to keep them warm.
Recently I saw a Good Morning America episode, about Burlington Coat factory partnering up with One Warm Coat. I think this is a really great way to help people who are out there freezing, if you have the means. All you have to do, is go to their site and donate funds or type in your zipcode for the nearest Burlington store and drop off some sort of outer wear. I know things are tight for most of us, but even a little bit can go a long way and truly help someone who needs it!

Day 12:Bundling up my doggy daughter!

This is the ONLY time the hubs will let me play dress up with our doggy daughter and that's only because it is actually cold outside and she gets chilly just like us! In fact, she has been known to lounge in front of the heater for hours... She totally loves the extra attention and being all snuggled up(I'm actually not telling the truth-she hates the scarf!)Hubsman and I always have some fun adding commentary to her daily routines.

Our photo shoot below will illustrate her enthusiasm!

"How do you think I should sit and should I be looking AT the camera?"

"Hows this angle, is my neck fat showing?"

"Oh whoops!Sorry, I blinked-redo"

"Dad, you keep taking the photo when I'm not ready"

"Okay, now I think we're getting closer to my perfect shot"

"This ones soo it, even in black and white"

Day 11: Good Tidings from Rudolph?!

Its that time of year again!!!....for sending out Christmas cards! We absolutely love receiving them from all of our friends & family in the mail, so hubby buns and I always make sure to send out ours too! This year we did get a little behind on our card making skills-but ARE still planning to send them. SO if you have sent us one and thought we have forgot you, we did not!


I came across this site and thought it was simply the cutest idea:
For a bit of fun, consider sending your Holiday Cards from a Post Office with a Christmas related name and postmark! A fun holiday postmark is sure to surprise those on your holiday card list as they look to see where their card is from.
Just pick a post office from the authorized list shown below. Stamp and address your cards then package them all up and send them to:

Christmas Re-mailing
Postmaster
City, State, Zip (choose from one listed below)

Your cards will be individually postmarked and mailed from there. Although there is no charge for this service, it is best to mail them by December 10 to allow enough time for the postmarking, re-mailing and delivery.
Angels Camp CA 95222
Bethlehem KY 21609
Bethlehem NH 03574
Bethlehem PA 18016
Chestnut IL 62518
Evergreen Co 80439
Evergreen LA 71333
Frost MN 56033
Garland PA 16416
Garland TX 75040
Holly MI 48442
Hope KS 67451
Hope MI 48628
Hope MN 56046
Hope NM 88250
Hope ND 58046
Joseph OR 97846
Joy IL 61260
Nazareth KY 40048
Nazareth MI 49074
Nazareth PA 18064
Noel MO 64854
Patridge KY 40862
Rudolph OH 43462
Rudolph WI 54475
Saint Joseph IL 61873
Saint Joseph MI 49085
Saint Joseph MN 56374
Saint Mary’s PA 15857
Saint Mary’s WV 26170
Santa ID 83866
Snowflake AZ 85937
Spruce MI 48762
Star NC 27356

Wouldn’t it be fun to get Holiday Cards from Santa, Photo Cards from Rudolph or Christmas Cards from Bethlehem?

Since we sadly didn't make the recommended cut off date for doing this, next year we defiantly will plan to do this!

Day 10: Born is the king- true meaning of CHRISTmas

It really is soo hard not to get caught up in the gift-buying, the decorating, the busy hustle and bustle of the season-especially when I love those things. But I know the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate Christ's birth that was over 2000 years ago. I want to try and embrace this Christmas with hope & laughter and also remember to experience the joy that is found in God being among us. Every Christmas, since I left home, I put up this nativity my mother got me. It is a daily reminder of why Christmas is even in existence.

Day 9: Warm Comfort Foods + Recipies, Yum!

When winter arrives, nothing hits the spot better then some good ol' homemade chili, soup, stew, or any warm yummy crock pot meal!...and lets face it, during the summer, that nice hot bowl of chili, isn't as appealing as it is during the winter months! So lets take pleasure in these warming meals while we can!

Below are 2 of my recipes we have been partaking in often this winter season.

Enjoy!