Christmas 2010

Well believe it or not, I am actually posting on the blog!! It has been FOREVER, but one of my goals this year is to be a better blogger!

Mike and I both just returned to work after a wonderful Christmas break! Here is a rundown, complete with pictures, of our holiday festivities:

First up was a few family get-togethers at our house, the Smiths and the Evans. My lil bro and sis, Nathan & Danielle stayed the weekend too, which was lots of fun!
She's so old now!!! Danielle-14


Dani, Duch & me


Mike and 2 of my bros, Roger & Nathan


We spent Christmas Eve with my family, watching Despicable Me, opening presents and eating dinner at Olive Garden, followed by Christmas Eve service at Mom & Rick's church. Fun day!
My parents


My crazy brothers!!


Laura & me at dinner


We also spent Christmas Eve with the Graziadei kids, letting them open their gifts from us and Al & Annalyn. Definitely a highlight of Christmas, seeing how excited the kids were!
Christian, Patrick, Elijah & Erin


My silly mother-in-law!


She doesn't like the Santa hat, but she looks so cute!!


We spent Christmas morning with the Evans, including opening presents via Skype with Ali in China! She emailed us pictures of our presents that she got us, and Annalyn will bring them back with her when she goes in April. It was so good to get to include Ali, even all the way from China!
Mike, Duch & me on Christmas morning!


Annalyn with her present from Ali!


Al showing off his new slippers, with his constant companion, Lil' Man!


The week after Christmas we met my parents at their timeshare in Florida for a little vacation. We were also joined by Rick's daughter and son-in-law and their 3 kiddos, from Boston. We had such a fun time with everyone jus hanging out and relaxing!
Mike & me on the way to the airport!


Maddy (8), Catie (4 1/2) & Nicky (1 1/2): such adorable and fun kids!!


We got to go to the beach in December!!! Crazy!


That water was freezing!!!


Captured a sweet moment of Uncle Mike & Nicky!


The last few days in Florida were spent with Mike's aunt and Uncle Tomm & Whitney, and their new addition, Thomas (better known as "Little T"! He is so precious and we were so glad we got to see him!
Meeting Little T!!


Crashed out on Mama at dinner!


My favorite Little T picture!! He loved his bouncer!


All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas break, and were so blessed by family and friends! Hope yours was great as well! And wishing you all many blessings in the New Year! We're excited to see what 2011 holds for us! :)

Posted by *Becky*

"Dear John"

FYI: If you haven't seen the movie, you may not want to read this, as there are spoilers!

So I just finished watching the movie "Dear John" for the first time and I am left feeling...perplexed. When I began watching the movie, I was wrapped up in the sweet love story, the mystery behind John's dad and the little boy Savannah was close to, and....well, let's be honest, looking at Channing Tatum is always enjoyable! Once he leaves for war, I was sad for them to be apart but loved how they kept each other going through letters (such a lost art these days!)

Then...I began to hate the movie.

After not writing for 3 months or so, she writes to break up with him while he's serving overseas, saying she's engaged?? I know later she explains that the guy was sick and he wanted someone to care for his son, but really??? They paint this picture of John and Savannah as being totally in love, and then she just up and marries this older guy out of the blue?

Then his dad dies, and that whole part of the movie was awful...I definitely bawled like a baby!

Okay, so then the movie starts to redeem itself because he obviously made the anonymous donation to pay for Savannah's husband to come home and say goodbye before he dies, which was really sweet. But then....the movie basically ends. I ASSUME they got back together in the end, but they didn't really explain anything....

Did she go see him where he was stationed? Where was that little coffee shop where he saw her? Was he expecting to see her? Where was the little boy she was supposed to be caring for now that her husband died? Did John and Savannah end up together??

I have not read the book, but I am wondering how close it is to the movie. I think I want to read it, but so many parts of it were so sad that I'm not sure if I really want to give it a try.

So basically, I loved/hated the movie, and am annoyed that it made me cry and now I have a headache. And, I'm home by myself with no one to discuss it with...hence, the blog post.

Soooo, fellow blog readers, what did YOU think about the movie?

Our Cruise!

This year for our 5 year anniversary, which was actually on June 18, Mike and I decided to take a Caribbean Cruise. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and took a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. It was by far the best vacation we have ever taken and we look forward to going on another cruise sometime in the future! Here are some picture highlights from the cruise, all of the pictures I took are on Facebook if you want to see more! Enjoy!

Top 10 list...

I love blogging and reading other people's blogs, but I can't figure out why I am such a bad blogger! I think it has something to do with lack of time...I have been so busy with work lately that when I get home I just want to hang out with Mike and watch a show or read for pure pleasure! Another reason could be that I don't have a whole lot going on that might be interesting to everyone else...but here's my attempt at being entertaining...

Here is my top 10 list of things to NEVER do/say to or about your child-

(as said/done by one of my clients at some point while I was working with them)

10. "What does she need rules for, she's a child?"

9. "I honestly think my child (5-years-old) is a future serial killer."

8. "Sometimes my kids drive me crazy because they won't let me just be a teenager." (Said by a 16-year-old mother of 2.)

7. "I pull her by her hair when she's out of control because it's effective."

6. "One of these days you're gonna wake up and I'll be gone because you will have put me in a coffin because of your bad behavior."

5. "She doesn't like to hear the word, 'No' so we don't say that around her."

4. "We don't use any form of discipline. Do you think that's why she's so out of control?"

3. Mom: "I can't understand why he thinks it's okay to hit when he's mad." Me: "How do you discipline him?" Mom: "Usually smack him across the face."

2. "I can totally understand how some mothers just snap and kill their children, and then regret it because they can't take it back."

And the number one thing to never say to/about your child:

1. "The thing you do best is make people miserable!" (said by a Mom to her 9-year-old daughter).

Oh yes, very sad but true, these exact comments have actually come out of the mouths of some of my parents in my presence...and then they want me to "fix" their children! Never a dull moment in my job!

Awkward times at the nail salon...

I have been getting my nails done every other week for several years now, but yesterday when I got my nails filled I had quite the strange experience! About 2 weeks ago, a new lady at my nail place did my nails. I'm always a little skeptical of new ladies, but they were so busy and I was in a hurry so I sat down. Almost TWO HOURS later, with bleeding fingers and crappy nails, I left. Needless to say, I was not happy.

So yesterday I went in to get another fill, worried that I might get the same lady...but luckily the owner (my favorite lady) had me sit down at her station. She picked up my hand and looked at my nails and said, "You do nails here last time?" (Yes, they were that bad.) When I told her that I had, she pointed directly at the lady who had done my nails 2 weeks before and said, "That lady do nails?" I nodded yes (thinking to myself, that's sad that she knows that without asking...) and she shook her head and starting spouting off what could only have been a string of expletives in Vietnamese. I wasn't really sure what to say...

About 10 minutes later, another lady from the back came up to talk to the lady doing my nails, and my lady began ranting in Vietnamese again about my nails, gesturing to my nails and grabbing my hand, showing this lady how bad my nails looked. I felt a little awkward because I knew the gist of what she was saying, but couldn't really jump in and respond.

Now if this wasn't already awkward enough, the lady who had done my nails 2 weeks before came over, and my nail lady basically ripped this lady a new one, again gesturing with my hand and pointing at my nails. I had nowhere to look but down while she gryped this girl out...very awkward! Finally the lady walks away (probably to go cry in the back) and my nail lady says, "I tell her, no good, she need to change". Sounded like worse than that to me...

When my nail lady started filing my nails, I told her that the other lady had hurt me when she filed my nails 2 weeks ago, to which she responded, "You should hit her, right on head!" I laughed, but I think she was serious!

When I finally got ready to leave (with MUCH nicer nails, thank goodness!) the lady who had done my nails 2 weeks ago shot daggers at me as I walked to the front...I mean, if looks could kill, I wouldn't be writing this blog post! It's a good thing my nails look so nice, because I think I might need to steer clear of the nail salon for awhile...


-- Post From Becky's iPhone

I'm on Twitter!

Well this weekend I went to Abilene for Sigma Alpha Alumni weekend, and while I was there I got talked into joining Twitter! I'm still trying to figure it out, but so far it seems pretty fun! If you're on Twitter, let me know, or follow me at BEtheLPC. And here's a few pictures from this weekend!












-- Post From Becky's iPhone

FYI...

This week I changed the link to our blog because it was so long, so it might mean that if you have my blog as a link that you need to replace it...sorry, I didn't realize that changing that would affect things so much! Now the link to our blog is www.thecoachandthecounselor.blogspot.com. So change it if you must so you can keep up with the Evans'! :)