Easter Sunday

What a day! We had a great time with our church family this morning. Then we went to my parents house for lunch and an egg hunt. Great food, and great laughs. Tonight we're grilling steaks and chicken for James' family.

As we sang our songs this morning, Steve and I read scripture in between each song. I became overwhelmed with emotion as I read the verses describing the resurrection. A story I've heard so many times that I can't even count, but today, it brought upon a feeling of humilty and complete unworthyness. What He did, to pave a road from our earthly, sinful selves, straight to His presence.... is amazing. How can you not walk down the path He has for us?? I hope today you found yourself in the presence of an Almighty Father, because He loves you without measure.

what a mess....

On Good Friday, we had the Allen's over for dinner and we let the girls color eggs.... it was quite funny. Coupled on top of the fact that we're letting two four years olds plop eggs into cups of dye, it was past their bedtime.... so they were hilarious! And of course, Abby and Saraya ended up with more dye on their hands then the eggs.

Let it Snow!!

Well we finally got our snow for this winter. It seems the past few years we've gotten one good snow and I had just about given up on it for this winter. Here it is... March 7th and we're getting a big one! I love to see snow falling. It's just beautiful!!! Saraya wasn't really into the snow at first. You can tell by the look on her face in the picture of me and her. But then she decided that she liked it. James and Saraya built a snowman, had a snowball fight, and made snow angels. James' mom even made snow cream!!! I haven't had that in a long time. I'm sure it'll all be gone tomorrow, but it was wonderful while it lasted!!!

Our SHE Group

This past weekend was our SHE Retreat. (SHE is the name of our women's group at church. It stands for "Seeking Him Eternally".) What a great group of girls. I can't tell you how much each one of them means to me. They each bring something different to the table. I love how we've grown closer together since the last retreat. I'm glad that each and every one of them are apart of my life. I also am in love with our tshirts this year. I think this one is my all time favorite. Probably because my brother and I thought up the idea and he designed it!! So that makes it extra special to me.

Chair & Me

Man I love concerts. I think I could go to a different concert every weekend if I could afford it. It wouldn't matter who it was, I just love live music. So of course, when someone I actually LOVE comes to the Convo Center in Jonesboro, you better believe I'll be there! Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire!! Woo hoo! I have always loved Kelly. But to hear her live... was, well..... AMAZING! She's just incredible. It was a great concert. I had a blast. But part of why it was such a blast, is because I went with Charity. It's been a year since we've seen each other (but we call each other all the time), so actually getting to hang out with her for the night was great. We're two peas in a pod. I just love her. And I got to meet Weston for the first time. Such a doll!!!

Super Bowl Champs Baby!!!!

Underdog = Giants. Favorite = Patriots. Any Given Sunday. Anyone can win.

The weeks leading up to this game have been so much fun. We started the season 0-2, but quietly and without the bells and whistles, we steadily won games. We played great the last month, winning the last 11 road games. We made it to the post season, beating the Cowboys, who beat us in the regular season, beating the Packers, who beat us in the regular season, and now, beating the Patriots, who beat us in the regular season. As soon as we made it to the Super Bowl, Cristi and I decided to get matching sweatshirts!! We planned a Super Bowl party at her house. It was so much fun!!!! Several people came over and it was just great to be surrounded by friends as OUR TEAM played!! It was a great game. Great defense. But in the fourth when Eli got out of a sack and Tyree grabbed the ball for a first down I knew the game was ours!!! I could feel it. And a sweet Burress touchdown to clinch the game with 35 seconds left. We did a lot of yelling, clapping, jumping, and cheering. It was great! All with my great friend Cristi by my side!!!!

What a great year to take a trip to NYC!! Maybe I'll find some championship stuff while I'm there!!! That would be awesome!

Already Four???

February 1st comes around way too quick these days. It seems like every year just gets shorter and shorter. I can't believe Saraya's FOUR!!! Just doesn't seem possible. The above picture is from her four year old shoot. Such a big girl!!!

I took the day off Friday to spend with her and get ready for her parties. That night we went out to eat with the family and then came back to our house for cake and ice cream.

She's just now getting into dressup and she got a couple presents of princess dress up stuff. I think those were her favorites!!

Saturday we had her friend party. We had a housefull! Our theme was the Peter Pan movie and Saraya dressed up like Wendy. I used a robe that was mine when I was little and she looked adorable!!!

We had a great time celebrating Saraya's birthday weekend!!!!!!!

Finally!!!

The day has come. Lost is back.... well, for a little while. This is my favorite drama ever. It is so addictive. So interesting. So many clues, and things to figure out. I sat in the floor, glued to the tv. And then it was over. So sad. Why can't episodes go on for days?? :-) I know why, I wouldn't get anything done!!! Needless to say.... I'm VERY glad Lost is back, even if we only get a few episodes.

WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Super Bowl here we come!!!!! The Giants played the Packers tonight. We went to some friends house because Cristi and I are BIG Giants fans. It was great.... we had nachos, ribs, chicken, brownies with hot fudge and ice cream.... and then there was the game. A great game. Back and forth. -24 wind chill (glad I wasn't playing!!!) We missed a field goal to end the game in a tie: 20-20. Sudden death. I hate sudden death. Packers won the coin toss. I felt a rock in my stomach. Then it happened. An interception!!!!!! And we marched down the field within field goal range. The kicker had already missed two......... but the third times a charm!!!!!!! Now we advance to the big game.... the one that counts..... hopefully to upset the "perfect" Patriots. Cristi and I will be dressed in new matching sweatshirts for the Super Bowl party!!!!

#92!!!!!!!!!

Football season is coming to a close. It's been more fun this year than it normally is because I joined the Fantasy Football league at church. Cristi and I were the only girls in a league of 16 teams and we both finished in the top 4! Not too bad!!!! I, to be exact, finished in second place! It was great!!!

But this Sunday's game, if the outcome is the way I want it to be, will be even sweeter than that! My team, the NY Giants, beat the stinkin' Cowboys this past Sunday and now we face the Packers. If we beat the Packers.... we'll be in the Super Bowl!!!!!!! That would be awesome!! Saraya and I have been wearing our Giants shirts regularly. If we win the game Sunday you can be sure I'll post a picture!!

p.s. - #92!!! was my Fantasy Football team name in honor of my favorite Giants player: Michael Strahan

Christmas Day

What a day! Saraya was so much fun this year. She was so excited to go in and see what Santa left. For some reason, she was really stuck on getting dinosaurs this year. So that's what she got!! Along with all kinds of other stuff.... too much stuff probably. But that's what happens when you're the only grandchild around!! :-) We opened presents all morning with my family, made breakfast, then James' family came over and we opened presents with them. Then we watched the annual Lakers game.... and we won!!!! It was a great game. For dinner we opted for steaks instead of the traditional stuff.... and it was awesome. We did lots of playing with toys, downloading cds onto iTunes, lots of eating and we have lots of trash to prove it! I took tons of pictures and some can be seen on my myspace page. http://myspace.com/danamichellehewitt We hope you all had just as wonderful of a time with your family as we did. Lots of memories... lots of laughter... lots of love...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a great day. We didn't have anywhere to be. We got to hang out all day long together. We lazed around the house, took a dip in the hot tub, baked cookies, dipped pretzels, and started a new tradition of having my all time favorite punch (thanks Christine!). We had KFC with James' mom and my family. Then after Saraya went to bed, it was so fun to get everything set up and ready to go for Christmas morning!!!

Funky

Sunday morning at church we had our Christmas service. I thought it went really well. It was fun to play and sing Christmas music for a whole service. We read the birth of Jesus inbetween songs. But by far, my favorite part was seeing the kids sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Away in a Manger. Of course, the preschool class didn't know all the words like the grade school kids, but their angel costumes and halos made up for it!! They were just adorable up there. Who doesn't like to see their kid up front??? Saraya wore these funky pants to church that morning... I just LOVE them!!!!

Thirty-Two

It was a great "birthday weekend" as I call them!!! Friday night we went to Wings to Go, one of my favorite places, with family and friends. Then we came back to our house for cookie cake and ice cream. We went with a Laker theme so Saraya and I dressed to match. :-) On Saturday we all slept in til 10am thanks to Saraya. We met mom, dad, David and Jana at Colton's for lunch. Then James, Saraya, David and I went to the mall and I shopped with my birthday money. To end the day with a bang, I went with a couple friends to Central Baptist to see Point of Grace's Christmas concert. It was wonderful!! I love their Christmas music. It was a great way to top off a great weekend!

H&M

Last summer my cousin went on a trip and was telling me about an awesome store she found called H&M. A couple months later we went on our vacation to Chicago and before we left I thought to myself, "I wonder if they have an H&M??" So I looked it up and they did! When I shopped there I fell in love. I wish we had one close. The store is european, and the clothes reflect that. When I was planning the things I wanted to do in California, of course, I had to see if they had an H&M..... and they did!! I got Ray this mushroom print shirt and I just love it. She wore it to church today so I thought I'd write a little blog about it.

My Second Favorite.......

I think my favorite part about Thanksgiving weekend is shopping on Black Friday. It's become a tradition with me, my mom and my brother. This year my mother-in-law even came! The time this year was 4:45am.... yep, that's the earliest I EVER get up all year long!! A close second, is decorating for Christmas. We moved a shelf in our living room so we could put the tree in a position where you can see it from the couches. In the past few years it's been off to the side and I really wanted it where I could see it more. I love Christmas time. And I love putting up the tree. I'm using the pink and red theme again this year. I really loved it last year. Saraya was a big help, helping put all the ornaments on the tree, even if they were in a two foot radius. :-) As soon as we were done last night, she started asking if it was time to put up her tree. I just couldn't do two in one night, so we saved it for today. Of course that was the first thing out of her mouth when she got up. I was able to push it off til after the trip to Target. We buy an ornament each year for her tree of something that she's into. This year we let her pick it out herself. Of course, she picked Tinkerbell. When we got home we put her tree up and she was so pumped. We're now ready!!!!!! Now I just need to start wrapping presents.....

My Top Five....

Here we are at the end of our trip. It doesn't seem possible that this time tomorrow we'll already be back in Jonesboro after our flight. Vacations are great. I love to travel. But it's also nice to get back to family and friends.

Here's James and his brother Rich, and us with Rich and Tina.

So in case you weren't keeping up with it, here's my top five things about our vacation to California:

1) In-n-Out Burger

2) IKEA

3) Disneyland

4) the beach

5) seeing family

Thanks to all you folks that have been reading my blog!!!

Ronald Reagan Library

When we visited two years ago, we went to the Reagan Library but since we went they added a new building that houses his Air Force One plane. Today, we took my niece Dabe and toured the place again, plus we got to see all the new stuff. It was all just as impressive the second time around. One of my favorite parts about going there, is that it's up on top of a mountain, so the scenery is beautiful.

My Top Five...

It was totally different going to the beach in November rather than the summer. The wind blowing in off the ocean is so cool. But it was still great to go and walk around along the coast. We just took a few pictures down on the shore then we walked around at the stores and got hot chocolate (for me a chai tea) and watched the sailboats. It was very relaxing. Unfortunatly, after James took the picture of me and Saraya, he said, "look at that big wave" and the next thing I knew my shoes, socks and ankles were drinched in ocean water with waves rolling around my feet. (Sorry David, I know this breaks your heart) When we got home and I rinsed them out and hopefully they'll dry without smelling like salt water. :-)

Happy Anniversary Blake and Susan!!!

I really hate that we're not there to help you guys celebrate! Hope you guys were surprised! Can't wait to see the pictures. We love you guys!!! And we send you best wishes... may you always be as happy as Minnie and Mickey!!!!!!

Disneyland at night....

....was amazing. It's pretty at night anyway, but to see all the Christmas lights and decorations up it was just b-e-a-utiful!! As tired as we were, I am so glad we stayed all day. Main Street was great all lite up, but my favorite was the castle. They had so many lights on it... with Christmas ribbon, and icicles.... so I think that this will possibly be my favorite picture from the whole day.

The Mad Hatter Tea Party

We weren't really sure what Saraya would think about the rides but she really surprised us. You can tell by the look on her face that she's having the time of her life!!! These are by far my favorite pictures from a ride.