Security

Okay ladies! Time for some changes! As most of you know, there is a meanie internet man out there posing as your friends and taking over your emails! Now, I know this doesn't have much to do with blogger, but my husband and I had a long talk last night about blogland, and I think it's time to take certain security measures! :)

Basically, Jenthenewlywed blog may become a little more vague. I feel like I have been relatively careful so far, but clearly, meanie internet man (and others) use those you trust to get to you, so you can never be too careful! (And can I just say how AWFUL it is that someone would pose as a trusted friend to do evil things!? AWFUL!!!)

My main rule is that my last name, nor yours, will never be posted. Nor anyone's place of business, etc. I mean, you may not mean anything by a sentence like "So on Saturday we went to see my friend Suzie who works at Starbucks" but alot can happen from a sentence like that. So lets just be careful, okay ladies?

Be careful sweet friends!

What We Did Today

Here is our front door!

Merry Christmas from the Moxie Fox!

Sweet Husband hanging lights on our very first tree!

Jen hanging ornaments!

Now, I haven't yet been able to find the "perfect" tree topper, so I'll post a new pic when I get a pretty star or angel!

This is a nativity scene someone gave us as a wedding gift.

Now that you've seen pictures of the beginnings of our very first Christmas as a married couple, now you have to know the story about our very firt Christmas tree...

We have re-named ourselves Clark and Ellen Grizwald. We had a painless experience at Lowe's, and my sweet husband securely fastened our tree to the top of my Honda Accord. He looped the rope through all 4 windows and tugged tight. It took about ten minutes or so. We both tugged to make sure everything was snug.

Then it was time to go. I went to open the passenger door. It won't open. The driver door won't open either. We look up at each other and realize: We've tied the tree to the car very tightly and the doors are tied in there with it.

Now, I know my husband. Untying these ropes is not an option. I knew what we had to do.

It was at this moment, in the parking lot of Lowe's, that my husband and I crawled through the windows of my car. My bootie was way out in the air as I tried to dive into the car. We looked SO classy!

As if that was not enough, as we are about to get on the highway, my husband decides that he is worried about the tree. So he opened up the sunroof, and stuck his arm out through the top so he could hold the tree trunk securely as we flew down I-10! Hey hey we're the Clampetts!

I usually don't like to decorate for Christmas until December. I had even considered not decorating at all, since we will be in Texas for Christmas. But then I remembered that this is our first Christmas and it would be so horrible not to celebrate!

By the way, we had a wonderful time in New Orleans for Thanksgiving. The food was delicious and I got ALOT of shopping conquered. We are back in Baton Rouge where it is chilly and rainy and cozy and just beginning to look alot like Christmas! (Everywhere you go......)

Play with me Dad!

Here is a little video of our little Moxie... he was trying to get daddy to play with him, but daddy was just filming :) He is not always this hyper, but he is always this cute!

Dissapointment

Wow. Just, wow. If you haven't watched the finale of The Bachelor yet, and you don't want me to spoil the ending, read no further. Otherwise, listen to my rant. Thank you :)

I am appalled. Hot Brad just became not so hot. Let me make myself clear about something: I am not upset that he did not propose. Clearly, if he did not fall in love with anyone, he should not be asking anyone to marry him. However, throughout the season, he has been very verbal and vocal about his feelings for these women. He used the word "wife" when referring to Deanna about 48,000 times. So what I am not understanding is, why did he just send her home altogether? Why not just say "I want to keep seeing you"? He has that option. Past bachelors have given the girls a ring on a necklace, or a one-way plane ticket. He just said goodbye.

But what irks me even more is how much he lead those girls on. He said all the right things and kissed them and talked about marriage and families and babies and then..... nothing. Those poor girls. Both of them, I felt sooo bad for them. And he kept trying to comfort and hug them and I was looking at the tv yelling "GET OFF OF HER!".

The thing is, we've all been there. We've all gotten dumped, even when you thought it was a sure thing. Or maybe it was a promotion that we just knew was ours, only to see it given to someone else at the last moment. Perhaps you wanted to buy that perfect house, only to find out that someone else made a better offer. Our lives are full of dissapointments.

And here is what I have come to realize: As much as I love my husband with my whole heart, and I know he loves me with his, he is a human being. As am I. We are human beings, and by our very definition, we are flawed. We are not perfect and we will hurt one another. In our lives together, most likely my husband at one time or another will say the wrong thing, or fall through on something. He will dissapoint me at some point in some capacity. And that's okay, because I know that I will do the same.

What I am getting at is that Jesus has never, never, ever dissapointed me. Ever. Even when I had one of those horrible heart-wrenching moments that I just knew that God didn't know what He was doing, He did. He knew exactly what He was doing. He wants nothing less than His best for me. He loves me, He has never let me down. I am so thankful that we have that one sure thing, that one promise that can never ever be broken.

He is right. He is always right.

Sweet Emotion

I have come to realize that I am really really bad at taking pictures. Well, let me clarify: I am really really bad at getting my camera out of my purse to take pictures. I was in Houston all weekend for Laura's wedding, and I think I took about 2 pictures. I am awful. I think some of the other bridesmaids are going to email some out, so if I get any good ones I will post them here! It was a wonderful weekend and a wonderful wedding. Laura looked beautiful and everything was just gorgeous!

I got to spend alot of time with my mom, Jaclyn and Grace Parker. That child is beyond adorable. I mean it. She is smiley and cuddly and she loves to snuggle. She spent some time snuggling with me on Saturday morning and we just had a ball.

So, Grant and I have been living in Baton Rouge for almost a year now. I have gotten quite settled and have made lots of friends. I love my church and my job and I am quite happy. It was so so weird though yesterday, when we were leaving Houston, I got all emotional in the car! I mean we have made this trip so many times and I have never done that, but I just felt so sad when we were leaving. I think it was a little weird because Lindsee was not home and I haven't seen her or Jo in months, and Sally is in North Africa now and everything is just changing. I won't be in Houston for Thanksgiving this year and we will have a shorter Christmas. I have always had a hard time adjusting to changes and I guess this is just one of those times. So weird though.

So I missed 2 days of work last week for the wedding, and because of Thanksgiving, this week will only be a 3 day work week. For this, I am very very thankful! I am really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving with Grant's family. It's my first holiday with his family and I am very happy to be "initiated!"

Okay ladies, you can't forget! TONIGHT IS THE FINALE OF THE BACHELOR! Tonight he makes his choice! Katie and Mo are coming over tonight to have a Bachelor Finale Party. It will be hoppin'. And by "hoppin'" I mean that Katie and I will be watching the Bachelor on the small tv in the guest room while the boys play Halo in the living room. Drop it like it's hot.

My McDreamy Came True!

Thank you so much to everyone who said such sweet things about Grant! When he got home from the accident that night, we had dinner and he went to bed at 6:00pm, and he didn't wake up until 6:00 the next morning! I am glad he got some much needed rest. He is still not 100% healthy, but he is much better than he was earlier this week!

Tomorrow I fly to Texas. This makes my heart oh-so-very-happy. This weekend I am a bridesmaid in Laura's wedding. I have known Laura since.... I can't even tell you. Younger than elementary school, that is for sure! The rehearsal and rehearsal dinner are tomorrow, Thursday, so I am flying out tomorrow. Grant is driving in Friday evening after work so he can be at the wedding with me on Saturday. I am SO excited and hope to post many pictures!

Oh, and remember my whole rant the other day about the writer's strike? Well I had said that maybe they should make Grey's Anatomy barbie dolls and I could make my own show. Well, my sister Jaclyn has informed me that a Patrick Dempsey doll now exists as the movie Enchanted makes its way into theaters. For real:

Now if only they had a Meredith doll. I would force Meredith to marry McDreamy. Also, ladies, I am interested in who you think the Bachelor is going to pick? I am predicting that he chooses DeAnna but he does not propose. That is what I am betting on :) What do you think?


I'll be back Monday with pictures! Love you ladies!

Sigh of Relief

This was the call I got this afternoon:

(phone rings)

Me: Hello?

Grant: Hey babe..

Me: Hi! How's your day going?

Grant: Well...um.... I need to talk to you about something. I am fine, I am not hurt, everything is okay.....

I HATE conversations that start like that!!! As I mentioned in my earlier blog today, Grant has been feeling pretty sick lately. He went to work anyway, and around 3:00 he started to feel feverish. Realizing that he was not going to be very productive on the job, he decided to head home a little early and take a nap. The drive from New Orleans to our house is around an hour.

So Grant was in the work van and was on I-10, going about 70mph. The truck in front of him swerved, trying to avoid hitting some debris in the road. As this truck swerved, he "clipped" the piece of debris. What was this piece of debris, you ask? It was a large truck tire. WITH THE RIM STILL ON IT. As the truck hit the tire, the tire flew into Grant's hood, windshield, jumped on top of the van, and then rolled off, knocking off his side view mirror.

PRAISE THE LORD. Somehow, my husband came away totally unhurt! Not a scratch on him! The glass from the windshield was sprayed onto him though. When he finally pulled over, he was covered in glass. The hood of the van is cracked in two places, and the windshield is "annihilated" as Grant called it.

Thank you, Jesus, for protecting my husband today. Thank you for bringing him home safely. Now he has taken Tylenol and is sleeping soundly in bed. Today could've been ALOT worse and I am so so grateful that the only thing wrong with my husband is his bad cold!!

Our God is SO GOOD!!!

All Kinds of Things

I really don't think they should call it "night fishing". I think it should just be "fishing". I was under the impression that night fishing would mean that they left around, I don't know, 7:00pm and returned around 8:00am. That would mean that they were doing the majority of their fishing when it was dark outside. But that is not really what happened. They began fishing at 5:00pm and stopped fishing the next day at about 5:00pm. It was 24 hours of fishing. And Grant got home around 8:30. I think they should call it a "Fishing Trip Where We Spend The Night". That should be the name. I don't really mind it, just don't give it the name Night Fishing! :)


Grant had a wonderful time. I will post some pictures of his big fish later. I didn't know that there were fish this giant. And I didn't know it was okay to have that much blood on you clothes! Eewwww!!


I had a wonderful "Jen" weekend. Friday night after we went on a long walk around the pond, Moxie and I cuddled up on the couch with my blanket and we watched movies on the Hallmark Movie Channel. They are absurdly cheesy and horribly produced, but entertaining nonetheless! Saturday morning I took the 30 second drive to the outlet mall to start my Christmas shopping! I am happy to report that I bought 4 gifts. Woooo hoooooO! I am also very happy to report that ANN TAYLOR FACTORY STORE is OPEN!!!!!!!!! It is beautiful. And SO much cheaper! However, I was a good girl and I only bought something for those on my Christmas list. Nothing for Jen this time. Take a deep breath!


After shopping, I met Katie for some YUMMY Mexican food at Las Palmas. After our bill came, we still sat there for another hour just jabbering away. I am sure our waiter wanted us to leave! I so enjoy our little dates together!


When Grant got home Saturday night, he was sick sick sick. After being hot and then sleeping in the cold, wet boat, and then waking up and getting hot again, my honey has a cold :( He has been feeling awful! However, we have had tickets to see Brian Regan (my favorite comedian) for a few months now, and he was a trooper and went with me despite how cruddy he felt! So sweet!


On a more serious note, my dear Sally and her men has flown away to North Africa. Sally, her husband Jon, and her precious Jude have sacrificed and moved to the mission field. They will be there for atleast 2 years. It is so weird to me to think that I won't see her for 2 years. I have known Sally for as long as I have known Lindsee and for us to go more than 2 months without seeing each other is weird. Please keep her family in your prayers. Pray for their protection in North Africa. More importantly, pray that they would win souls for Christ! How amazing that the Estes family is actively spreading the Word of Jesus and have sacrificed their American life to do so! I have the highest respect for them. I love you, sweet Sally. (Also, go see all the fun pictures of us girls on Lindsee's page) I am thankful for servants like the Estes'!


Have a great day everyone. Remember, tonight is The Bachelor: Women Tell All. Hillary will be trying to defend herself. This cannot be missed.

Night Fishing

So this afternoon, Grant, his brother, and his dad are taking off work a little early. They have to get the boat ready. Because they have to go night fishing. They have to.


The way I understand it, the fish bite better at night, or something like that, so they are going to get in their boat, and then they are going to drive 25 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico, park it, and fish. All night. They are bringing bean bag chairs in case someone wants to take a nap.


Does this sound like fun to anyone else? I don't know about you ladies, but I would not be pleasant company on a trip like that! This morning, he was packing his bag, and I soon found out that "packing his bag" meant throwing some long sleeved shirts and a beanie into a plastic grocery sack. I am so proud! :) He should get back tomorrow around lunch time. I intend on Christmas shopping. Or maybe Jen shopping, I haven't made up my mind yet! :)


So has everyone heard about the Writer's Strike? For those of you who haven't, basically what is happening is that the writer's of Hollywood have gone on strike. Their reasons are that when a television show is aired on the internet, or re-runs, or anything like that, the writers don't get a cut. They have been trying to negotiate this for months, to no avail. They have gone on strike. So what that means: no new shows. Leno, Letterman, all the late night shows have already gone into re-runs without their writers. The Office has only one completed episode left, and so they have stopped filming. No writers means no new scripts, so production has to stop. We are about to be seeing ALOT of made for tv movies! Apparently this same thing happened back in 1988 and lasted for 22 weeks!!!!


So ladies, for those of you that are as pathetic as me when it comes to "your shows", what are we going to do with our time? Learn to sew? Read more? Go jogging? Perhaps they will sell some Grey's Anatomy barbie dolls and I can create my own show, with my own story line. Meredith will stop whining and marry McDreamy. That is episode one.

The Longest Day

So Sunday was daylight savings day. Spring forward, Fall back. We got one extra hour of sleep, ladies! Praise the Lord! However, did anyone else feel like that one small little hour added on about 7 hours to your day? Grant and I felt like yesterday was forever long! We got SO MUCH done!

We woke up in the morning, and Grant made pancakes. Katie's husband Mo was out of town so she spent the night with us (it was our first slumber party ya'll!) and Grant made us pancakes! Then we headed up to church and into Sunday school. After Sunday school we went to lunch, and then after lunch Grant and I headed to the store.

When we got home, the following things were accomplished (in random order): Nap, exercise, Bible study, dishes, wash clothes, favorite show, grocery list, cleaned bathroom, dry clothes, play with the dog, iron clothes, Grant went to the gym, put clothes away. AND all that was done by 9:00. We didn't know what to do with ourselves! And when we did go to bed, I didn't feel tired. We need that many hours in EVERY day! We had a wonderful wonderful weekend.

One highlight of this weekend was Friday night. Let me give a little background info: There is a rather large sized outlet mall about 30 seconds from my house. Literally. I can see it from my window. It is not my favorite outlet mall as far as stores go, but there are several useful places that are convenient to have close to home. There is a Gap, and an Old Navy and a Nine West, so sometimes I do run over there for a few things. Well, over the past 6 weeks or so, this outlet mall has been getting a MAJOR makeover. They are repainting and pretty much doing cosmetic surgery on the outside, as well as building an entire new strip of stores, yet to be named. Until Friday night.

As this new section of the outlet mall has been built, I have been speculating as to what mediocre stores would be there. Maybe it will be Jansport or Maidenform (oh, wait, those are already there). I wasn't expecting anything good. Imagine my surprise then, when Friday night as I drove by the new strip, I see it: the beautiful, glowing sign: ANN TAYLOR FACTORY STORE. The angels sang. A light shone down around the building. Jesus loves me. This I know.

Happy Angel

Welcome to November! Can you believe we are already in November!? I feel like October just flew by!

Things have been going pretty well lately. It's been a busy, busy week! I wanted to share a few pictures of my nieces that my sisters sent me!

This is Juliet (17 months old) who was LaLa (The Teletubby) for Halloween. Our passionate little Juliet was very very passionate about NOT wearing the Lala hat. She is still pretty cute though!

This is Scarlett (also 17 months, she and Juliet are twins) and she was Humpty Dumpty. Ya'll, I can't even begin to describe how hilarious this costume is. I love it!


The last of the nieces is Grace, who is 6 months old! Grace thought that it was a little too hot outside to be a chicken....



And still, a little too hot to be Princess Leia....



But she was quite content being a ballerina! Isn't she just perfect!?

Special thanks to Shannon & Jaclyn, my fabulous sisters for sending these precious pictures!

As for me, Halloween was pretty low key. Natalie from the office was really encouraging me to dress up. But honestly, I just didn't have anything. So I wore my normal clothes to work. HOWEVER, I DID wear a tiara. The tiara I wore on my wedding day. Because, hey, how often do you have an excuse to wear a tiara?!

So last night, we had a few trick or treaters. My very favorite though was this DARLING little girl, who looked about 3. She was dressed as an angel, and you could tell this was her very first time trick or treating. I opened the door, and she was looking up at me, looking a little unsure about what was going on. She didn't say trick or treat (although I was already digging into my bucket of chocolate cause she looked so gosh darn cute)... and then her mom, who was standing about 8 feet behind her said "Honey what do you say for the candy?"

She looked up at me.... and said "Umm..... Happy... Um...... Angel...."

I think I gave her everything I had left! What a precious little cherub!!

Today, I was getting ready for work, and I saw my red high heel shoes sitting there in my closet. It has been SO long since I've worn them. So, before it gets too chilly out, I put on my red dress, threw a denim jacket over it to "dress it down", and put those red shoes on my feet! It was wonderful.

Imagine my embarassment when Natalie from work asked me if I was wearing white panty hose. She was not kidding. She was serious. "Nope. Those are just my legs!". It has taken me YEARS to embrace my whiteness. And it is moments like that that send me further back into my insecurity!

This weekend our Sunday school class is having a girls night! Woo hoo! I will post many pictures.

Have a great day precious friends!