Pictures from Christmas - Finally!

I finally bought a USB to transfer my pictures from my memory card to my computer. Enjoy the pictures to go along with my Christmas 2009 post.

One of these things is not like the others...

You have a baby... in a kareoke bar...

The original pine cone.

We always get nervous that the caramel sauce for our sweet potatoes isn't going to come together... we have little faith in the power of butter, sugar and heat.

Let the annual card making contest begin...

Evan wins first place in the International division - "Chritma"

Katelyn wins first place in the my little Pepaw division

Mom wins first place for the best use of ribbon.

Kristen wins first place in the ready to hang division.

Jessica wins first place for the most decorative.

Eddie (the dog) wins first place in the K-9 division.

I win first place for the "holiest" card.

Dave wins first place in the "already in the bag" division.

My dad is so cute.

He's in his outdated "TAC by Schneider Electric" branded apparel.

It was a long day...

And now for the videos you've all been waiting for...

Evan

Dave

Jessica

Katelyn

Kristen

Me

Mom and Dad

Passion 2010

I started the year off right this year, with a road trip to Atlanta, GA with 4 of my best girl friends! On January 1, Maegan, Callie, Ali, Andrea and I piled int0 Maegan's SUV and began the 900 mile trek to Atlanta. We listened to It's My Wedding, WTH???, a CD of clips from one of the local radio morning shows and laughed a lot. We played "My Daddy Runs the Grocery Store," a game where one person thinks of an item in the grocery store and says "My daddy runs the grocery store and he sells the letter... B (or whatever letter the item they are thinking of starts with)" and everyone starts guessing items in a grocery store that start with that letter. The person who guesses correctly gets to think of the next letter. We also played that game where someone says a celebrity's name and the next person has to say a celebrity name that starts with the first letter of the last name of the celebrity name that was just said. For example, I say Faith Hill, and the next person says Hugh Grant, the next person says Gerard Butler, Beyonce Knowles, etc. you get the picture. If you repeat a name that's already been said, you're out. We didn't get any flat tires, no one got punched in the face, and we laughed a lot. Success. Why Atlanta? We went to Passion 2010 to refocus on our true priority in life, the glory of God. The conference was amazing; 25,000 young adults, ages 18-25, praising God and lifting His name high. Speakers like John Piper, Francis Chan, Beth Moore, Louie Giglio and bands like David Crowder Band, Chris Tomlin and Hillsong. There were three main things that my eyes were opened to at Passion: 1. My pride is digusting and needs to be dealt with. 2. We are guaranteed suffering in this life. 3. Our greatest joy is found in the glory of God. At Passion, they had a center called "Do Something Now." The goal was to raise $500,000 for 12 different non-profit organizations pushing back the darkness in the world. That's a steep goal for poor college students and post-college students with loans to pay back. Through God, the goal was met and far exceeded. Over 4 days, we gave (not pledged, gave) $668,597.95. A married couple who were guests at the conference were overwhelmed by the outpouring of money from "kids" that they wrote a check on the spot and matched the donations dollar for dollar. Praise God! We teach our kids in Little Village that God is in charge of everything and only he can perform miracles and it was awesome to be able to experience one first hand. I was blown away and in awe. The trip was great and I came back refocused, rejuvinated and refreshed.

Here are some pictures from our travels. We stopped in Birmingham, AL on our way there and ate dinner at Mellow Mushroom - the best pizza I've ever eaten, no lie. We took a self-guided tour of Alabama's campus and got an indepth look at their Christmas tree. Enjoy!

Frugal Friday - Free Bagel!

Visit Einstein Bagels between 2/1 and 2/7 to redeem your FREE Bagel & Shmear coupon!

Bermuda, Bahamas, Come on Pretty Mama...

I find myself apologizing often for taking so long to post and I'm going to stop doing that. One of my new mottos for 2010 is "I'll get to it when I get to it." As much as I want to blog, I haven't really found any convenient times. In the past, I would have stayed up way too late creating a post, but now, I'm going to say, "I'll get to it when I get to it." And here I am, blogging on a Saturday night because my immune system got distracted at some point and let down its guard.

Last time I wrote, I was leaving for a cruise with my family. I asked multiple people, multiple times, to go through a packing checklist; I didn't want to forget anything important. One of the items someone reminded me of was a camera. Well, I broke my camera back in October and decided this was the perfect time to buy a new one. I did a little research and found out the Best Buy was advertising a great deal. I got this camera, this case, and a rechargeable battery for about $200. Score. I got to Austin around 10:00 pm the night before the cruise and asked Callie and my parents to go through the packing list one last time, thinking that I could run to the grocery store to get last minute things.

Dad: Pillow?
Me: Check.
Callie: Passport?
Me: ....Passport? No...
Dad: You're kidding!
Me: No... no one told me I needed that!
Dad: Please tell me you're joking.
Me (almost in tears and straight up panicked): NO, I'M NOT JOKING! Do I have to drive back to Dallas?
Dad: Start driving.

Thankfully, the Lord instilled a calm spirit in Callie and she was able to think logically and speak softly. We looked at the rules and regulations online and realized that because we were going on a closed-loop cruise (leaving and returning to the same port), an original birth certificate would be an acceptable document. Phew! My dad happened to have the original at the house and a huge wave of relief swept over us. I wasn't able to find humor in the situation until we reminisced the next morning. The cruise was great! So much fun and laughter I could hardly go one day without almost peeing in my pants. Callie got to see first-hand that the people in my family really are the way I have described them. She realized that the voices I use to impersonate them are definitely exaggerated, yet accurate. Throughout the cruise, I took all of these great pictures, but when I got home I couldn't find the USB cord to transfer them from my camera to my computer. I had my parents looking all over the house and I was looking all through my stuff. Nothing. It wasn't until tonight, when I was looking for the link to my camera online, that I realized the reason no one could find the cord. THE CAMERA DIDN'T COME WITH ONE! So here I've been, waiting to update my blog until I find my cord because I didn't want to have a post without pictures, just to find that I've been looking for something I never had in my possession. Story of my life. I guess this means I need to stop looking and just buy one. Pictures to come...

The laughter continued into the days following the cruise. If you recall, last year was the first annual Bradberry Christmas Dance. It was also where you heard about the pine cone. The traditions continued this year, but we decided to give the dance participants some options. If you weren't up for dancing, you could karaoke instead. Success. Videos to come...

That's all I've got for now. I will get you up to date in my next post.