2010 in Review

We had an amazing 2010 and were blessed beyond our greatest expectations. God is good, all the time!

January - Macey started her final calendar year of college and quit her job of 2 years in order to focus on school and her dream of working for a Big 4 accounting firm after graduation. Tyler went to the fiesta bowl. We enjoyed snowshoeing and Tyler's first skiing trip.

February - Quite uneventful

March - Macey celebrated her 23rd birthday with a visit from her dad and his wife, and she also made her first quilt. Tyler played in the 3 on 3 indoor tournament, Bam Jam. Macey, Tyler, and a bunch of friends and family ran the LeBois 10k, it was a blast!

April - Macey and a team of accounting students competed in an accounting presentation at Beta Alpha Psi Regionals, they won!!!

May - Macey's mom came and did three big landscaping projects in our front yard. Couldn't have done it without her. Tyler got started prepping the house for painting. Tyler also started a new job at a brand new detox center in Boise. It was a great move and he received amazing remarks at his 6 month review. We also adopted a Lab/St. Bernard mix that we named Norah, she is such a sweetheart and Josey loves her!

June - Macey went to Spokane for a family wedding on the Blaine side, she had a great time reuniting with cousins and aunts and uncles. Tyler played on two different Hoopfest teams, one of them was with Macey, Tyler's cousin Travis, and Macey's cousin Cassidy.

July - Tyler and Macey celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary! So blessed! We also went on a trip with Travis and Rachael to Travis' home in Auburn, Washington.

August - Macey started her final semester of college. Tyler started taking classes to prepare for nursing school applications in 2011. Macey traveled to San Jose, California to compete at the Beta Alpha Psi National meeting, her team did awesome and they got to take in an Oakland A's game!

September - Tyler and Macey were part of the most beautiful wedding of Tara Crow and Lane McKinney. Watching Tyler's younger sister get married was more heart wrenching then we anticipated, but now we have a great brother-in law!

October - Macey filled out applications, interviewed with 4 different firms, received 4 offers, and accept with Deloitte! She is thrilled to start with Deloitte (one of the big 4 accounting firm) in January 2011.

November - Macey ended her internship at the J.R. Simplot Company and settled into her last month of college. Tyler and Macey also made improvements to their kitchen!

December - Macey graduated from Boise State University with degrees in Accounting and Finance. Tyler and Macey spent Christmas in Yakima, Washington with all of Tyler's family.

On a side note, I might not be making my blog private. We'll see.

Almost Done

That's right! On December 17th I will be done with college! I am so excited for the next adventure!

This is my graduation announcement that I will send out. It was designed by the lovely Megan Mackeson, check her out!

Comfort

All around me people are struggling
This crazy life they just keep on juggling
It pains me to see
I pray that He will set them free

Let me be a comfort
Let me be a friend
May their lives be filled with blessings
Until the very end

Adventure

In May we went camping with Tyler's sister, Tara, and her fiance, Lane. It was a lot of fun, an adventure from the start. We took some crazy roads in the mountains and found some water down below. It was awesome camping near a stream, such a beautiful and peaceful setting. We went on a hike, played games, ate, and slept. It was a great "kickoff" camping trip!

My soul sings

I blogged the lyrics of this song back in

2009. Here I am again, 1:30 in the

morning, listening to the song over and

over on YouTube. To be honest, I am not

the kind of person to associate songs and

events, etc. Some people have a song for

everything, every feeling, every event.

Not me. I have a few that I absolutely

love, but this one is different. I can

still remember singing it at church in 2009

and wanting to stand, smiling at God, for

hours. Something about it. I can't really

explain it, but you should check it out here.

I would love to hear what some of your songs

are that make you feel this way, I hope you

have one!

Summa time

Yes, it is summer! You wouldn't know it by looking outside or by watching me drive to and from class each day....regardless, it is summer.

In May, Tyler started a new job at a brand new Detox center in Boise. He is working nights, but we are getting used to it and adjusting nicely. In fact, although we have less time together, the time we do have is very nice. We make sure we are doing something fun together any chance we get.

We have a new member of the family...Norah. She is an 11 month old St. Bernard/Lab Mix. She is such a sweetheart. We totally lucked out, we adopted her from the shelter, so she could have been quite the handful. She is very sweet and has only misbehaved when company comes over, and it is nothing bad, she just loses her mind for a minute.

I started serving at Buffalo Wing Wings, and then found out that I got an internship with JR Simplot Company. WHOOHOO! So I will only serve on Saturdays and my internship is Monday - Friday until graduation in December. God is really teaching me that His plans sometimes differ from mine. I am okay with that, I am confident that his plans are better than mine.

I just finished 1 of 3 summer classes and my final 2 summer classes start on Monday. Then this fall I only have 4 classes until I graduate with a degree in Accounting and a degree in Finance.

We are going to Spokane two times this month. Once for my cousins wedding, and another time for Hoopfest. I am exciting for the wedding because this will be my first time back with all of the Blaine's...except for my wedding, but that doesn't really count.

Also, I am playing on a co-ed team at Hoopfest. Should be interesting, that's all I can say. I am pumped!

I hope anyone (if anyone is reading) reading this post is having a blessed summer!

Engaged!

Yup, three years ago today! He tried to propose on Feb 13th, but I insisted on doing homework, he didn't want to propose on V-day (too predictable) and so he proposed at game night on Feb 15th with some of our closest friends! What a night, what a life!!!

Little Projects

January has been full of organizing, and little projects on the fly. I wanted to make the most of my time off from school and now I also have Mondays school free until 6:00pm so I can get a fewmore chores and projects done on Mondays. Here are some of my projects from January with helpful hints if you like them...

For Christmas we used some gift cards and other generous gift money from family to buy this TV. Well, we didn't want to break the budget on a stand and accessories, so everything you see except for the tv was already in our home. The TV stand is a bookshelf that was ugly wood, it was in my kitchen before. I slapped on some paint that I had and I love how it turned out. The little white table was also "blonde" wood so I painted it up and put a new stainless steel handle on it. I am very happy with our new thrifty TV display.

BEFORE

AFTER

Never-mind the horrible interior of our cupboards, the kitchen remodel hasn't happened yet. I am just thankful that I found these white bins buried by the mess. My next goal is to use all of those cleaning products up so that I can make my own and only have one or two safe cleaners. I am also a little OCD about the white containers, I buy these because Walmart has had them for years so all of the organizing containers match throughout my house. Weird, I know, I only use white hangers too.

Homemade laundry soap is amazing! I have to give credit to Jenae, check out her amazing blog at www.littlehomeinthecity.blogspot.com. She has made some awesome things! Anyway, I am hooked on homemade laundry soap. This two gallon container lasts at least 4 months and is way cheaper than any detergent on store shelves. It is also faster to make than a trip to the store. Tyler helped me make this batch, it was fun to do together!

This is my version of "dryer sheets." It is a cap full of fabric softener and the rest is water. I spray it on the clothes before I start the dryer. So much cheaper than dryer sheets and less waste too!

My jewelry used to be in the bathroom, but recently I re-did our closets and dresser storage and I had a few extra drawers. After looking at some of my favorite blogs I noticed quite a few of my favorite designers had great jewelry storage in their bedrooms. So, the necklace holder is actually a hand towel holder. And the ice cube trays are in the top drawer of the same dresser. One pair of earrings per spot and watches in the white basket. The boxes around the sides are studs and special jewelry that I keep in the box. I love having my jewelry in my dresser like this. It makes picking it out so much fun and so easy to keep track of everything. No more tangled messes for me!