Our Anniversary Vacation

Boy, do I have a ton of catching up to do. I hope you enjoyed my favorite Mother's Day Quotes I shared on Sunday. 

To catch you up on all the craziness of the Reiser home I'd like to first share the anniversary trip to Reno, Jim and I took last month. We had such a fun weekend together. I mean really how can you not when your road trip begins with this beautiful scenery... 

We stayed at the Silver Legacy. Even though you would never consider Jim & I big gamblers we decided to stay at the casino because we got more bang for our buck. Since casino's make most of their money in the casino we were able to enjoy a beautiful room for a great price. Silver Legacy is also connected to two other  fantastic casinos, Circus, Circus and the El Dorado so we were able to enjoy the shopping,  restaurants and bars at all three.

I have to share our first meal. It was the sea food buffet at the Silver Legacy. Salmon, sushi, oysters and so much crab. It was our best meal on the trip. I think we each ate our weight in seafood that night.

We spent one afternoon in the Riverwalk District. I'll be honest it wasn't the most exciting area for shopping but our walk along the Truckee River is beautiful. We also had a delicious lunch at a restaurant call the Wild River Grill. According to Reno Magazine they were voted "Reno's Best Restaurant"  Now I have not been to every restaurant in Reno so I'm no judge but I would agree this is a great place to eat. The menu had a great variety of choices. The restaurant was peaceful and the service was excellent.  

We did gamble a little while we were there, Jim placed a few bets on some basketball games and we each took $20.00 and played video poker. That killed about 45 minutes one night. We also tried roulette and lost, quickly. You'd think playing our anniversary date would have brought us luck. 

Until next time,

Karri

Some Motherly Quotes for Mother's Day

My Favorite Motherly Quotes

Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. - Unknown

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers. - Jewish Proverb

My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it. - Mark Twain

Mothers are like glue. Even when you can't see them, they're still holding the family together. - Susan Gale

A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done - unknown

They say God cannot be everywhere that's why he created mothers - unknown

There is so place safer than a mother's arms
There is no smile prettier than a mother's smile
There is no love greater than mother's love - unknown

A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest. - Irish Proverb

Love is blind because "My mother started loving me before seeing my face" - Unknown

When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child. - Sophia Loren

19 years and counting.....

Once Upon A Time............

I Married My Best Friend

I can't wait to see where we are in another 19 years. 

Happy Anniversary to my best friend. I Love You!

Until next time,

Karri

My Word for the Year!

Joy

Noun: A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

A thing that causes joy.

Synonyms: delight - gladness - pleasure - mirth - rejoicing

This is the word I am using to live out my year. The word that God has placed into my heart to bring me closer to him. 

The search for a perfect word began in mid January when my friend and co-worker introduced me to the book One Perfect Word by Debbie Macomber. This was the book we were going to base our annual Lenten Ladies Retreat on. 

Since I was going to be one of the speakers at the retreat it was important I had my word before the retreat so I could live with my word for a while and share my experience. My word actually came very quickly but I found I was second guessing it because I wasn't sure if this was "my" choice word or God's. You see God begins in a quite whisper, I'd see the word "joy" in a book or in piece of art work. Each time I would feel a slight pull toward it always wondering is this me or God. God decided to speak a bit louder since I wasn't convinced. I attended a lay minister meeting and was quite surprise when Bishop Burnett spoke of joy in his message to us then a few days later I took a group of Confirmation students on a retreat and the priest spoke about joy to the teens. He even included quotes about joy from my two favorite saints to be - Blessed Mother Teresa and John Paul II. By this time I realized this has to be my word - Joy. I've embraced this word in everything I do including every decision I make and I have found some fun ways to play around with my word. 

I created a Pinterest board and have found so many beautiful "Joy" quotes I plan to add to my journal. 

Follow my Pinterest board - Joy

I've been creative ......

I made the fun bottle cap necklace at the Scrapbook Expo a few weeks ago. 

I've received gifts as beautiful reminders of this journey......

For Easter my friend gave me this beautiful frame and this wonderful quote about joy.

This year has already had a few ups and down but keeping the word "joy" in focus has really helped me to keep positive when I hit the bumps and cherish the highs when they come my way. 

More joyful posts will be coming during the year so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss any of them. 

May God bless you with a word to live out your year. 

Until next time,

Karri

Happy Easter & an Easter Edition Link Party

We had a wonderful Easter weekend, I hope all of you did also.  

We began on Friday with the annual cross walk held by the Youth & Young Adult Ministry at church. On Good Friday the ministry host a Stations of the Cross walk at a local park. This is one of my favorite events to put together and I was so excited that this year we had the largest turn out ever.  (I'm sorry that I can't share any pictures since they all have teens in them and I don't have permission from their parents but trust me there were a lot of teens.) 

Saturday we decorated eggs. Jacob was available for the first picture then he had to leave. As we are setting up he showed me what he thought was a bite on his arm. It was huge, red and hard as a rock so we decided to take him to emergency. Jim and my Dad took him and all ended well, he has an infection in the tissue of his arm due to a scrape he had received earlier. The doctor gave him antibiotics and by the end of the evening the swelling was down considerably. 

Now back to the egg decorating, Alexa had a blast. I loved watching her get so excited as the eggs became a new color. She really loved adding stickers to them after they dried.

Jim and I attended the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening. Since my Mom & Dad stayed home with the kids it was just Jim & I. A friend of ours called it "Date Night at the Easter Vigil". At first is seemed funny but as mass went on I thought, this is really a perfect date for Jim & I. It has been so long since we have been able to enjoy mass as a couple without kids. I especially valued our time after communion when we could kneel and pray together for our kids, family and friends. It was just the three of us - me, Jim & God. It was perfect!

Alleluia! Alleluia! He is Risen! 
Easter Sunday we hosted a wonderful lunch at our home with both sides of the family but first Jacob and Alexa posed for the mandatory annual Easter photo by the tree!

Here are a few pictures from the Easter decorations. 

Egg Hunt Time!!! Our family has a no age limit egg hunt every year. We fill eggs with money, candy and prize tickets. Everyone brings prizes for all age levels. We let the little ones have first crack at the eggs and then it's a free full all for everyone else. 

Thank you for visiting our Easter Celebration! 

Now let's make this a link party - I would love to see how you celebrated your Easter!! Link Away!!!

Until next time,

Karri

Easter Treats

The Easter treats for Alexa's daycare are finally done. 

Peeps on a Stick for all the teachers.

Bunny Tails for all the friends.

Yep! I'm sugaring up the daycare.

 Hopefully the sugar high will end before pickup. 

If you would like to make these fun treats feel free to use my Peeps-Gift-Tags and Bunny-Tails-Toppers printables. Enjoy!

Until next time,

Karri

The Treasure of My Life

I feel like it has been forever since I last sat down to write a blog post. In reality it's only been 45 days, 22 hours and 42 minutes. Still, it feels like forever. 

Unforeseen changes in my job as Youth and Young Adult Ministry Coordinator at my parish was the main reason for taking a break from blogging. These rough waters have subsided however a few waves keep pounding against me but I have placed all of my job stress in God's hands and I'm confident that I will view a peaceful horizon soon. 

The one thing I have discovered is that writing is where I find peace and God's love so I have decided that no matter the work load around me I will take time to write, whether it's on my blog or in my journal. So in a nutshell I'm back.

The family and I have enjoyed many treasure memories for the last 45 days. I'd like to share a few of the  highlights. 

Jim and I are going strong. It's amazing we will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary in a few months.  

The high point in our marriage this year is that Jim has taken the role of head chef. He is an amazing cook and since cooking is his stress relief I am happy to hand over the kitchen as his domain. 

Jacob began basketball season at his middle school. This has been a very different experience then his years in CYO. There are cheerleaders now!!!! I have also had the privilage to enjoy several young ladies in the stands a few weeks ago yell "We Love You Jacob!" Oh what it is to be young again. Jim and I are so happy he has adjusted well to his new school and we are excited to see what his high school career will be like. 

Alexa is not my baby anymore. Everyday she amazes us with a new skill, new words and a new incite into her personality. She is "Miss Independent", she needs to dress herself each morning, brush her own teeth, wash her own face etc... Last week Alexa got dressed in her polka dot sweat suit and put her pants on backwards and there was no way we were allowed to fix it. Her pants stayed that way all day.

While I have been away we have enjoyed two fun filled family weekends together. 

First was the SF Giants Fan Festival hosted by KNBR. We love attending and this year was no exception. We enjoyed interviews with the players and a chance to hang out on the field. We are so excited for this upcoming season as our beloved Giants look to defend their World Champions Title.

For my birthday we enjoyed a weekend in Sausalito. The main attraction was the Bay Area Children's Discovery Museum. They were hosting a Chinese New Year Festival. One of Jim's employees performs in a Dragon dance group so we were able to get up close and personal with the dragon. Alexa didn't like that part. We also spent the day shopping and eating, two of my favorite activities. I enjoyed a lovely birthday. 

The cherry on top of my great weekend was I got a new car. Yep no more mini van for me. I'm sporting a Mazda 6 now. 

For the last 45 days I have spent a lot of time in reflection, about my family, my career, myself and my relationship with God. All have proven to be most important to me and now the goal is to achieve balance in all of these areas. I'm happy to say I have been off my depression medication for about a month now and doing well, so it looks like my postpartum depression days are behind me. Those days were dark and gloomy and at time I struggled to see the blessings God was giving me each day, now a new light is shining before me and I'm excited to see where it leads. I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you. 

Until next time,

Karri