Easter in Hollidaysburg

I think this year Christmas and Easter got their weather patterns mixed up.  On Christmas the weather was pretty mild around 50 degrees.  This weekend in Hollidaysburg it snowed!  Like 4-5 inches!  I'm not complaining though because I love snow and it was sooooo pretty at my parents' house.  Too bad Bryson was sick or we could have taken him outside to play in the snow.  Although Peter and I didn't pack for snow haha.  When we woke up, most of the snow had already fallen.  It set a beautiful scene:

One of the trees in their back yard:

On their smaller porch right off of the kitchen...you can get an idea of how much has fallen so far, but it was still coming too:

Another tree in their backyard-so gorgeous!

This is so picturesque.  It's their older red shed and just looks so cute in the snow.  

The light post.  You can see here the roads weren't even plowed yet.  

Our car covered in snow!

Towards the top of the road my parents live on...it was so pretty out :)

I think this one looks like a postcard:

Peter and I took Bryson with us while Peter got his haircut at my dad's barber.  Peter loved the cut because the barber is old fashioned and doesn't use an electric buzzer and uses open blades on the neck, etc.  Bill (the barber) has been cutting my dad's hair his whole life, has also cut my pap's hair and both of my older brothers.  After the haircut, we stopped at Giant Eagle and I ran in to get some alternative foods for my dad.  This past week he found out he has diabetes.  It's hard because I can see how depressed he is and he loved food!  Everything he likes he can't have.  I got egg alternatives, soy milk, sugarfree things, etc. for him to have.  He's doing really well with it so far but I know it must be soooo hard, especially the week before Easter when our family has so much candy in the house.  I bought him some sugarfree cookies and peanut butter eggs so he could have something.  It's discouraging though because it's not that he can just not have sugar.  It's also fat, carbs, and salt.  I'm proud of his progress so far though because he's knocked his blood sugar level down by 100.  It should be 120 and his started around 260.  He's down to 160 now.  It's still high and he's still working on it, but to knock it down so far already is a great accomplishment.  He's also lost 20 pounds this week.  He's going to start exercising hopefully after he gets over this terrible cold he has.  I sure am praying for the best for him!

On the way down the road to my parents' house, I snapped another few pictures.  This was my favorite from that bunch.  This isn't their house, but it's very pretty set back off the road and just covered in white.  

One final snow picture of the swing under the big tree in their back yard.  By this time the temperature was a little warmer and melting some of the snow.  

Bryson had a blast on Saturday hanging out with Peter.  He really loves him.  He was in his spiderman jammies and them put on this red knit hat over his entire head to be "spiderman".  He also stuck on his spiderman sunglasses over top.  It was so cute!   

Here he is on the way to the barber shop.  He's terrified to get his haircut so we thought if he watched Peter get his cut, it might help.  No such luck this time.  He still didn't want a haircut haha.

We also found out that my sister bought an easter bunny haha.  She got him for $10 at a tractor supply store because they sell chicks usually around Easter time.  Apparently they didn't have any chicks but had bunnies this year and she came home with one on Friday and no one knew haha.  His name is Toby and his nose twitches all the time which is pretty cute.

Peter held Toby for a minute until Ashley said he poops all the time and then Peter wasn't so sure about holding him anymore hahaha.  

We had a nice Easter weekend.  On Friday after work we drove up to New Brighton and got some Rosalind's chocolate candy because my family used to get it all the time when we lived in NB.  Then we went to our old church, Chippewa E Free, for Good Friday Service.  It was a great service and really touched my heart.  Then we drove to Hollidaysburg and crashed after talking with my parents, Ash, Drew and Cacie for a bit.  After waking up to snow and going to the barber and Giant Eagle, we relaxed at home for the rest of the evening.  My mom made yummy baked crab cakes and pasta for dinner.  We watched "I Am Legend" and "Enchanting".  "Enchanting" was pretty cute, but I prefer disney fairy tales to be all cartoonish.  Nothing beats "Cinderella" and "Beauty and the Beast".  "I Am Legend" was good too.  I'm glad Ash, Drew and Cacie were there because they had all seen it before and I kept asking questions haha.  I do that sometimes when watching a movie, but usually don't get the answer until I keep watching.  They answered some for me right away which was kind of nice haha.  I'm glad we watched "Enchanting" after "I Am Legend" so the night ended on a happier note haha.

Sunday we had dinner at 1:00 at Ivy Stone Restaurant with my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins.  It was nice and we laughed pretty much the entire time.  After arriving home, we hung out and I watched the ending of "Enchanting" again because I started falling asleep towards the end and went to bed.  Then Wendy, Ryan, Bryson and Wendy's brother Sean came over for a while.  Things got a bit crazy then because the boys all wanted to rough house haha.  After they left, we had a yummy dinner of ham, baked sweet potato fries, macaroni salad and pickled beets.  We packed up most of that and most of the candy between me Ash and Mark and took it all home since my dad wouldn't be able to have any :(  It was kind of sad because my dad loves ham and everything else we were taking away.  We didn't leave til 9 but got home to Orin St at 10:30 so we made really good time!  

Now we both have today off so we are being big lazy bums!  The sun is shining and it's so nice to see because I rarely get to see the sunshine while at work since I'm on the ground floor which is mostly underground :(  Adam (our landscaper from last summer) is coming down today also to check out our backyard and give us an estimate.  We're really hopeful about getting that taken care of this spring/summer!  Then we are going to clean things up with Paula and Jeff and our outside will look 100% different (and better!) than when we moved in.  

He is risen!

The Resurrection
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you." So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The Guards' Report
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, "You are to say, 'His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.' If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

The Great Commission
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

The Guard at the Tomb

The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.' So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."

"Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how." So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Were You There?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPt8X565tY4

The Soldiers Mock Jesus
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.' " In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.

The Death of Jesus
From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah." Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him." And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!" Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.

The Burial of Jesus
As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus. Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

The Joys of Home Ownership

Today wasn't unlike any other day.  Work was filled with absolute craziness and I was working my butt off up until the minute Peter arrived...and them kept him waiting a few minutes on top of that.  The ride home was spent unwinding and sharing with each other ridiculous stories from our days.  When we arrived home, Cadi was waiting right inside the door as always.  Everything seemed (what we consider) normal until we entered the kitchen and Peter heard a loud hissing noise.  Upon running downstairs to the basement, we find water all over the floor and spraying out of the hot water heater--great!  Luckily we were able to figure out (rather quickly too!) how to shut the water off and cease the spraying into the basement.  We took the broken cap to the hardware store and got a new one.  After coming home and putting on the new cap and turning the water back on---we have hot water again!  Whew!  This potentially could have been much worse.  I'm glad that it was a quick result and a $5 fix and we actually have an extra cap if it ever happens again since they're sold 2/package.  We'll have to throw out 2 cardboard boxes that got soaked in the process (thankfully they were empty), but other than that, the basement just needs to dry out which shouldn't take long. 

Peter and I intend on doing a bit of waterproofing and major spring cleaning down there anyways so it wasn't much of a big deal.  We're both getting anxious for spring so that we can get to some projects that have been forced to hibernate for the winter.  Technically spring starts next Thursday, but we are still getting snow here and there.  My boss said she got about 9 inches this past Friday and Saturday.  She lives up north near Geneva and where we used to live.  Bummer we missed it!

Random Act of Kindness

Peter had to work this past Saturday morning.  It was a bummer, but not that bad since he'd be back around lunchtime.  I actually spent the majority of my morning curled on the couch in sweats reading a book.  By the time he got home, I was nearly finished with it because I was anxious to find out how it all wrapped up.  Karen Kingsbury is a great author and I can't wait to find some more of her books to read.  I just read her "Forever Faithful" series--highly recommended!  When I heard the car horn honk, indicating Peter was home and locked the car doors, I jumped off the couch to greet him.  Imagine my surprise when he is holding up these beautiful flowers for me!  It was so random and sweet!  He knows I love gerber daisies and lilies and this bouquet had each of those and much more!  :)  

Cadi was glad to have some flowers to sniff around and munch on...haha

I love times like this when it's not a special occasion or noted time when something special should be done, but it just happens.  My husband is the greatest!

Tuesday Babble

Today was a very busy day.  Upon arriving at work at 8:45, I had to scramble to get a few things for our meeting at 9:30 at TPO-our new HR client that I'm basically in charge of.  I had everything ready for 10 attendees but last minute was told 11 so had to make up the last packet real quick before we had to leave the office at 8:55 to drive to meet our VP to drive to TPO for our meeting.  The meeting went extremely well, but lasted a while and we didn't get back to the office until close to noon.  After that, I was able to take a break and meet up with Peter for lunch and to get the car.  It was so great to see him in the middle of the day!  Especially since he's out of town on business tonight.  We went to EatNPark again and had our usual salad bar and shared a Chicken Portobello Hoagie.  It was very tastey.  The best part was just sharing a lunch hour together again.  Then we drove to Peter's work (right past mine) so that I could drop him off so that I'd have the car for tonight and tomorrow while he's out of town.  Then I drove back to work and got there around 2:00.  After catching up on emails and phone calls I missed from being out of the office most of the day, we had to fire another employee.  At least this time the employee didn't linger outside and make phone calls for days this time.  

I was glad to get home around 5:30 tonight.  Usually I get home later, but since I was in a bit early, I left a bit early too.  Plus I was exhausted from the meeting in the morning and the firing and tons of emails/phone calls in the afternoon.  I bummed around most of the evening and eventually made some dinner.  I watched "The Breakup" on HBO and was still shocked that they didn't really get back together at the end!  I like that they crossed paths, but still!  Haha  Then I watched "American Idol" from the DVR.  I like to tape it because then I can fast forward all the commercials and stuff I don't want to waste time seeing haha.  

I'm missing Peter a lot tonight, but am glad that it's just a one day trip and at least not ruining our weekend.  Although he does have to work on Saturday-but only for a bit, thankfully.  He's out in Ohio where the weather isn't supposed to be that great, so please pray for him to have safe travels if you read this.    

A Taste of Spring!

Today Peter and I walked out the door this morning with no coats....NO COATS!  It was in the 50's when we left and got up into the 60's today.  It was sunny and warm, but unfortunately we both had to work inside all day haha.  It was kind of weird for it to be so warm and nice out and still have a few inches of snow on the ground from Friday's weather.  I actually heard birds chirping this morning as we were getting ready for work.  I love the snow and buddling up and everything, but I do love that spring is just around the corner.  Of course it's only the beginning of March, so it's not right around the corner, but close enough haha.  Peter and I are already talking of what projects to do this spring with cleaning up the landscaping and stuff.  Being homeowners is great fun.  Of course our finances don't allow for all of our great ideas, but many of them we can revamp to fit our situation.  We also do a lot of work ourselves which saves mucho money.  HGTV is one of my favorite cable channels and I watch it all the time.  Their home makeovers and upgrades are always extreme with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, but I do get good ideas for my house....where granite and stainless just wouldn't even look right haha.  I love my first house and love that it has little nicks in the wall and nothing's perfect.  But since nothing is perfect, it all fits together so well!  And for our first home it's awesome and totally amazing.  We're really blessed :)  

Movie Mania

Peter and I spent the weekend vegging out and watching tons of movies!  It was great since I wasn't feeling well.  We stayed in pjs most of the time and had a great time.  Some of the movies we watched were:

-Unfaithful

-Night At the Museum

-When a Man Loves a Woman

-Freaky Friday

-Arlington Road

-ConAir

I've seen ConAir (great movie!) and Freaky Friday before, but never any of the rest from this list.  I know we saw a few others, but I can't remember right now what they were.  

Arlington Road was a very good movie.  Tim Robbins-the main character in The Shawshank Redemption-was in it.  Along with Joan Cusack.  I think she's a great actress in the roles I've seen her as.  Mostly a mom and she's kind of kooky, but I definitely think it fits.  I don't want to give away any of the movie, but if you're looking for a good movie, I certainly recommend it!  

Unfaithful was also a good movie, but on the other end of the spectrum.  It was sad and had me feeling bad for Richard Gere's character the entire time.  I think that Connie-the main character-was just bored.  It wasn't like her husband was a workaholic who neglected her and her son.  Or an abusive husband or anything of the sort.  He was hardworking and a true family man.  The whole situation was just awful.  

When a Man Loves a Woman-also good.  We actually had a weekend full of really good movies.  And they were all on TV/HBO so we didn't pay a cent to watch them!  I love Meg Ryan and this movie really portrayed her differently than the whole romantic love story that I usually see her in.  And contrary to most movies, you weren't really sure if it was going to end "happily ever after".  I'm not going to tell you if it did either, just in case you didn't see it.  :P

I really had a great time resting with my hubby this weekend.  I can't believe it's Sunday night already and time to get ready for another work week.  Ah-time really does fly when you're having fun!

Leap Day Snow!

It snowed all day yesterday and all evening and it was sooooo beautiful out when we got home!  Even though the commute took nearly double the time it usually does, I didn't mind that much because it was pretty to watch the snow.  As we got closer to home, the roads got increasing worse because it was snowing heavier and the plows hadn't made it to our section of town haha.  We dropped our bags inside and went out to just look at our street and yard.  It was just around sunset so it was hard to get pictures to really capture it, but I tried.  We also took Cadi out and plopped her in the snow.  She didn't really do much except snuggle close to Peter's leg for warmth haha.  We got over 5 inches and it rained some then snowed more so even more than the initial 5.  I was planning on waking up and taking some more pictures this morning, but it had rained and was a lot of wet snow throughout the night so the snow that had collected on the trees, etc had melted.  I was bummed!  It was our first really big snow and in hours it was gone :(  I mean there is still snow out there, but it isn't nearly as magical and peaceful looking as it was last night.  

These first pictures are with the flash on....

And here I tried without the flash to see if that was better....