From the Inside Out

I spent the last day of the year preparing for our annual New Year’s Eve bash. We had a great time tonight with our friends from ALC. To view all of the pictures, go to the Photos section of the blog.

Clarissa playing the 2008 Year in Review game

The girls win!!

The guys trying to unscramble their NYE words for the 2008 Ultimate Survivor game

Clarissa vs. Derrick in the “worm” eating challenge

All gone…Kris wins his challenge

The remaining girls with their finished puzzle — they win this immunity challenge

The endurance challenge

Mitts ready? Survivors Ready?

My card tower is the tallest…oh yeah baby!

It’s almost 2009…getting ready for the balloon drop!

2008 had its moments — some good and some bad. It brought many challenges and a few disappointments. The highs were great, and the lows were rough. To be completely honest, I’m not sorry to see 2008 end. The New Year always seems to bring the promise of a fresh start, a new beginning. I’m ready to move forward in 2009…no looking back. I’m excited about the future and can’t wait to see what God has in store this year!

Happy New Year to All!

Since it’s the eve of New Year’s Eve, I thought it was only fitting to do a year-end review of 2008.  So, here are the highlights of my year condensed into a 30-second summary.  Enjoy, and have a great New Year’s Eve!

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A friend posted the following thoughts on Facebook today. They were extracted from an email that had been forwarded to her. Normally I don’t like to re-post these types of things as a blog post, but it really made me stop and think. I hope it does the same for you.

Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we flipped through it several time a day?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we used it to receive messages from the text?

What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?

What if we gave it to the Kids as gifts?

What if we used it when we traveled?

What if we used it in case of emergency?

Have you ever wished you could recreate your favorite dish from your favorite restaurants? Would you like to know how to make a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll at home? If so, you may be in luck. In his books, author Todd Wilbur reveals secret formulas for duplicating the taste of dishes from America’s biggest restaurant chains.

Todd spends days at a time and dozens of attempts creating the perfect clone of famous brand-name products, and now you can benefit from his efforts. The recipes are simple and easy-to-follow. According to his website, these clones will fool even the most critical connoisseurs at a fraction of the cost of eating out. And it’s not just marketing hype, reviews from real consumers confirm that these formulas are remarkably close to the original.

You can buy the “Top Secret Restaurant Recipes” books, or you can peruse a list of Todd’s recipes online and purchase only the ones you want. Todd also shares a large number of his recipes for free on his website.

Here’s a short list of some of the restaurant chains that you’ll find on the site: Applebee’s, Chilis, Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, T.G.I. Friday’s, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and Macaroni Grill. You can also find famous candy bar recipes, Girl Scout Cookie recipes and recipes from fast food joints such as Little Caesar’s, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, Panda Express, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.

For those of you who are watching your weight, Todd even shares how you can re-create your favorite brand-name foods and restaurant recipes at a fraction of the calories in the privacy of your very own kitchen.

To learn more, visit the website here.

We celebrated Christmas today with the Powers family in Forney. 

For a few highlights from the celebration at my house yesterday and the festivities today with Gary’s family, check out the video below. 

NOTE:  For those of you who know that I got a hi-def Flip camera for Christmas, don’t judge it by this video.  I uploaded the low res version to YouTube.  I’ll probably swap it out for the HD version when I have more time for uploading. 

Now it’s time for a Christmas flashback video…check out this one from 2006.  It’s fun to see how much the kids have changed, especially Jackson.  He was only a few months old when this vid was shot.