Resolutions and such.

Goodbye 2009, hello 2010! Happy New Year's Eve to everyone! The neat thing about New Years is that my birthday is shortly after....yesssss more presents. I love presents! (That might sound shallow, but you know you love presents too. Everyone does. Stop judging me.) Anyways, what is neat about that is that I really feel, at the end of each year, that it is a brand new year of my life. New start. Another year older. It helps me to really feel the passage of time, which can be good and bad....I'm pretty nostalgic at times. So I do make resolutions each year, even though it is so incredibly cliche; it helps me to set the course for the next year of my life. I usually end up changing some, forgetting (literally) about some, and even chucking some out the window completely come February. Nevertheless, I think it is a good thing to have goals.

So...without further adieu, here are my 2010 goals:

1. Get up earlier to spend time with the Lord.
I did this every day in college and it was such a sweet time of communion and growth in my walk with the Lord. I NEED this time. Now more than ever.

2. Less TV, more books.
I will be posting my 2010 reading list soon!

3. Enter receipts into PearBudget immediately.
I've been slipping here. Not good. Especially when saving to go on a big trip!

4. Get back on track with my running.
I was doing so well! Then brochitis struck...dun dun dun... I miss it!

5. Put laundry away immediately.
Instead of letting it sit or pile up in the laundry room in the basement...a long way to walk for a clean shirt!

So there you go. No losing 10 pounds (although I'm desperately hoping that will happen with the help of Resolution #4). No huge life changes (though that might come with Resolution #1). Just some things I need to work on in areas that I've let go recently. I'll try to you keep you posted.

Here's to a happy, healthy New Year! God Bless!

The Easiest Dinner Ever

Call it being "on break," call it "lazy," call it "unmotivated"....but I haven't fixed dinner at home in a while. Really, December has been really busy and I stopped even attempting to go to the grocery store because for a while we had SOMETHING Every. Single. Night. Being on Christmas Break has only faciliatated this, because laying around all day and then rolling on over to Grandma's for Christmas dinner has been the game plan this past week.

Today, I attempted to reenter the ballgame. I went to Sam's and bulked shopped. I made a meal plan for the next 3 weeks...did you hear me??? 3 weeks! Because I know once school starts and basketball games start comin' my way, I will retreat and lay in the fetal position and not want to cook or do anything after 3:00 in the afternoon. Dealing with teenage adolescense and the issues that come with will take all my energy.

So I reentered the game tonight with this easy, easy dish: Garlic-Tomato Pasta.
Here is the step-by-step. You ready??

1. Put on pasta to boil.
2. Get out a saute pan. (This was the hardest part because mine was in the back of the cabinet with a bunch of crap piled on top of it.)
3. Put olive oil in the pan. Turn it on medium.
4. *Optional, but really tasty: Put 3 anchovies into the olive oil. (Do not tell Patrick about this part. He probably would not eat it if he knew...)
5. Promptly dispose of leftover anchovies in the can in the OUTSIDE trashcan so that your cats, who are now circling your feet, will go light somewhere else, for goodness sake.
6. Use your Pampered Chef Garlic Press on 2 cloves of garlic, directly into pan. Stir.
7. Stir in some white wine. (Have a glass or two in the process.)
8. Dump in a can of diced tomatoes which you buy in bulk. Be really proud of yourself for having these on hand.
9. Drain pasta.
10. Mix all together.

**In the meantime, write a quick blog post. Really, it was that easy.

Enjoy! And Happy Almost New Year!

For you have delivered me from death

and my feet from stumbling,

that I may walk before God in the light of life.


Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Herndons

Prayers for our family

Our family lost a special little person tonight. Cole Puryear, Patrick's cousin, went to be with our Lord. Cole was seven years old. He suffered a rare stroke while playing football with his dad, Patrick's cousin, Glen. Our family is in somewhat of a state of shock over what happened. The doctors said this was a rare thing indeed for someone so young. From my short time in the Herndon family, I know that Cole was an energetic, athletically-talent, fun-loving little boy. Thankfully, he was surrounded by believers in Christ who trust in God's will and know that His will is better than our own. While we don't understand what happened, we trust in the sovereignty of our Lord. Please pray for our family as we grapple with this news and continue to trust in Christ's love and comfort. Pray for Glen. Pray for Cade, his tender-hearted older brother. Prayer for Cayci, his mother. It will be a somewhat bittersweet holiday this year, but we will call on the name of the Lord and be thankful that he has provided a way salvation in Jesus Christ so that we can spend eternity with Him.

Because I'm Always Thankful,

not just on Thanksgiving, for my amazing family...

And because I've been a slacker lately and keep forgetting to post these...

And, finally, because my mother has called again begging to see the pictures and accusing me of holding them hostage on my camera and I'm scared she might start threatening to take away my Christmas presents and/or upcoming birthday presents if I don't do it soon...

Here they are! My beautiful family on Thanksgiving.

My cousin, and former partner in crime, Scott and his beautiful wife, Mandy.

Uncle Buddy and Aunt Karen. There's a more normal (read: boring) picture of them where they are looking straight at the camera and smiling sweet innocent smiles. This is one is better. It's more realistic. The bunny ears say everything that needs to be said about these two.

Jenny and Ron. She's graduating from Virginia Tech on Friday! We're gonna party like it's 1999...

My cousin Katy and her friend. Isn't she lovely? I often wonder how I came to be related to all these gorgeous redheads. I hope the genes that skipped me end up in my children. I dream of raising beautiful redheaded babies!! ::sigh:: Someday...

The rest of the Price family. Beauties.


Granddaddy Robert presented me quite the challenge. What I am saving you from here is the series of photos I had to take of him just to get one where he was smiling. Well, half-smiling. That's about as good as it got (until I put the camera down of course). If you know my granddad, you know this is so typical. And so why we love him.

This is my Granny. I love Granny. She embodies quiet peace and strength and humility. And the woman looks good in blue! Told you she was amazing.

Neva and Granddaddy George. These two have a wonderful story that I will share with you somedays. I'm so thankful for them.

My cousin Andy and his lovely girlfriend, Jessica. I think Jessica is an amazing woman for three reasons: 1. She fits in with our family perfectly. 2. She dates my cousin Andy, who is also great. And truly needs a good woman. And 3. She has 5 brothers. This is an important reason because my granddaddy George, who has dementia and often, often repeats himself, likes to tell the story of his five sisters. After hearing his story 95, 604, 034, 239 times, it is easy to run out of responses. Not Jessica. She just comes right back at him with "Oh yeah, well I had five brothers!" We are truly thankful when she's around.

Cousin Nathan, who has a very sweet heart for people. And he's really good at making those video slideshow thingys. This talent comes in very handy in a large family with many, many graduations, weddings, anniversaries, etc.

Desmond and his mama. Friends are might as well be family. No. No. They are family. We love them.

We were also to celebrate some birthdays happening on or near Thanksgiving!

Dave, my sweet little (but taller!) brother. He's an old man now. I told it's all downhill from here.

Jessica. Look at that beautiful cake!

And Granddaddy George. The reason he looks slightly confused here is because Dave and Jessica got money in their cards and he didn't (he forgets that he's the grown-up here). Don't worry, later when they and my grandma weren't looking he snagged some of their dough and pocketed it. The look on his face was devilish. And pure joy!



I was thankful that my immediate family was all together. Dave lives in D.C. now, so this doesn't get to happen as much. It was so sweet to have him home for a little bit. Isn't he handsome??

Here's the mama. My mama. The one who threatened me about the pictures!

My dad and his companion, Roxanne the dog. Do not let Roxanne's cute little face fool you. She's the most hyperactive dog on the planet.

I was also thankful for the person who made this cheesecake. It was HEAVEN.

I was also thankful that I remembered I had these homemade pickles in my cupboard to share! My first attempt at pickle-making was quite the success. Delicious!

Here's my baby girl. Ain't she pretty? I was thankful to get to curl up with her all weekend and get some rest.

Lastly, I'm thankful for this guy. My guy. Because he puts up with me! And he loves my family. And he brings me flowers. And he wants to raise beautiful redheaded children with me someday. And he likes coffee and movies on the couch and Christmas. Because he thinks he's Clark W. Griswald and covers our house in Christmas lights every year. Because he eats my cooking and doesn't complain. Because he tells me I'm pretty and smart and that, doggone it, people like me! I love him. He's the perfect husband.

Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful holiday season! Christmas pictures will not be 2 and 1/2 weeks late, I promise!