sweet smell of spring

So thankful that it appears spring is here. I'm not going to get too excited though because it could very well snow next week,ha. 

Owning a home= a lot of work. With our basement remodel going on we found out that some of the flooding was due to the slope of the dirt next to the foundation. Nate, super husband, knew just what to do. In my head I was thinking [ get some dirt. build up the foundation. make a slope. done & done] However, the husband had other plans. He came home from work with this excavator thing & starts surveying the land, finding mathematical slope things & other junk I don't know enough to tell you about. Enter panicked wife. Last summer the weather ate up our entire front lawn (which is hugenormous by the way) and we spent quite a bit money & time & power into re-seeding the whole thing back in the fall so that come springtime our lawn would be beautiful again.... now enter Nate with his giant man toys.  The anxiety just built up in me wondering if he was going to tear up our newly seeded lawn.

 and if you're wondering if he did tear it up... yes he did. and I couldn't take it so I went to wichita to shop it off my mind (thats a healthy way of dealing with things... right?!) He says everything will grow back... I guess we'll see. On a brighter note- no more basement flooding! Job well done husband.

 March 6th Scooter turned 2. Yes we are one of those couples that celebrates their dogs birthday. [ by celebrate I mean we put this hat on, forced him to take a picture,  and gave him a treat present]. That probably wont change till we have kids, sorry. He is the cutest substitute for a kid though :) We love our little furry man.

 Nate & I spent the weekend in Wichita at a marriage conference & it was just really enjoyable to get away. our hotel was seriously awesome and it was a great time for us to get away!

My spring break starts this saturday  and I couldnt be happier to have a break. I will be heading to STL to spend some time with the folks. Unfortunately Nate doesnt get a spring break so he will be staying at home. Happy Spring everyone!!

...in sickness & in health...

we have had a lot of experience with that part of our vows this year. I have been not feeling great the last 2-3 weeks- from sinus infections to bad colds to the worst being last weekend, the dreaded stomach bug. Let's just say Nate has definitely seen me at my worst- yikes! And yet, I sit here right now reflecting on the fact that despite all the crap we have been dealt the last 6 months, from intense losses to battling illnesses , Nate continue's to take care of me- and love me through it A L L .  I don't know that a lot of people really think about that part of their wedding vows... at least I know I didn't.  I am incredibly grateful for Nate & I 's relationship right now. What we have been through the last 6  months are the kind of things that tear marriages apart.  When people go through heart ache, losses, illness, failures... that naturally adds stress to your marriage. and trust me, we have had all of that stress- but somehow, God has chosen to work in our lives & strengthen our bond through it all. I am so glad that I can look at my husband and know that even though life has dealt us some crappy cards the last 6 months, I have my best friend sitting here loving me through it all. What an intense blessing!

In other news- with spring coming soon (hopefully...) the theme in the Piston household is hope. I have new meaning with this word & what it really means to hope in the Lord.

" those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint"  Isaiah 40:31

"remodeling fever"... and other shenanigans..

This time last year we were remodeling our bathroom. Boy was that a wild ride. I am so thankful we are finished with it and we love what we did. BUT- now we are ready to tackle our 2nd biggest project on this house: the basement. There is really nothing visually wrong with the basement. It is finished, has carpet, white walls, you know... but we also knew there was a few  times it flooded & we had found some mold from what we could see. Our plan is to get rid of the mold, paint, get new windows/an egress window in the bedroom, and get new carpet so we can put furniture down there & utilize the great space!

Nate's birthmom, Terri, sent us these awesome crocheted hats for Christmas. They came from krochetkids.org which is an awesome organization. Check it out!

I have recently started cutting cucumbers and putting them in my water for more flavor. It is deeeelicious!!

This is the view from my bathtub. Scooter staring over the edge....

I painted these 2 canvases a few weeks ago. I love this verse.

the #1 thing we like about living in Kansas? the sky. I can't help but think that God paints it a little prettier than most places to make up for the lack of outdoors/landscape Kansas has, ha.

Anywho, life has been alright the last month or so. Nate has been doing p90x the last couple months and its been awesome to see his transformation. Maybe he will let me post his before and after pictures on here (but I doubt it, ha!) That boy is getting in shape!!

A funny story

I'm really trying to stay positive about life & look at all the blessings and joys that we encounter daily- and this happens to be one that we both find pretty funny- so I figured I'd share

Back in the summer Nate & I ventured to Gordmans in Wichita to shop around. We went in the store and I stopped fairly close to the opening doors of the store to look at the jewelry. Nate was standing behind me when all the sudden something caught our attention (actually, caught EVERYONE in the stores attention). A young woman was at the opening of the store and a young man was standing behind her, arms wrapped around her, and she's yelling "GET OFF OF ME!! GET OFF OF ME!!" The scene looked like something you would see out of a movie.  For a minute I thought we were on "punked" or "what would you do", you know, one of those shows. People started to stare at what was going on, wondering if someone should step in and what the heck was happening. It appeared that the man was hurting the woman and she was screaming for help. Nate, the super hero, decides this is not right and something needs to be done about it. He runs over to her and try's to grab the guy and get him off the girl. He put's his arm on the guy to help save this girl and the guy yells at Nate to back off because he is a cop (you would not know this though, he had no visible badge and was wearing normal clothes). At this point everyone in the store is just staring at this and I am wondering if my husband is going to be a hero or end up with a black eye. Nate backs off and the man and woman go back and forth, her trying to get away from him, him holding her down. Eventually she ran away from him and he pushed her down while she is yelling " I didn't take nothing! I didn't take nothing!" .

Well it turns out this woman was stealing. and that man WAS a cop. and Nate was trying to help her steal (unintentionally).

Maybe its not that funny to you, or maybe it's one of those "had to be there" things. Let me tell you though- looking back, it was hilarious.

Praise the Lord, its 2012!

I really don't feel like reflecting on 2011, in fact I am just really happy that it's 2012. Somehow a new year means new hope for good things. I do find it kind of ironic though because if you look back to my post this time last year I was on this rant about how 2011 was going to be such a great year for us Piston's (merely because of Nate & I's attachment to the #11) and it ended up being the hardest year of our lives.

Christmas was great! Nate & I had a blast with my family. It was relaxing, eventful, delicious, loud (its always loud in the Shuler house), and somehow we all managed to leave with a bad cold (perks of a big family with 4 little kids running around spreading love germs). Here are some highlight pictures from the last couple weeks!

 I made these two canvas art pieces for my sister for Christmas. They were pinterest inspired & pretty easy to do! (the rainbow one was much easier than the rain one). Jamie loooooved them!

 Love spending time with my beautiful nieces Josie & Kaiya!!

 John Jr ( aka. John John) was Mr. Claus this year

 Christmas morning with the grandkids. Pretty much impossible to get a picture with them all looking at the camera/keeping their eyes open.  So happy to add Jack to the Shuler family this year! He is such a sweet baby!!

 I love my sister :)

 The Shuler family (+ us 2 Pistons)

 Grammy & Pappy with the grandkids. They are pretty proud :)

 Of course we can't go to St. Louis without going to Bubble Tea. I forget how good it is because we don't have it in Kansas!

Our week in STL was really wonderful. We shopped (alot) , played a lot of funny games, watched some movies, played xbox kinect (xmas present to me from nate!!) ,  went to the Science Center, decorated cookies, had fondue (twice!!), ate way too much delicious food, sat around the fire laughing, talking and playing games, and my mom took me somewhere super special that I'll share with you in another post.

And so the long winter begins...

I know we had this conversation last year- but I'm not a winter person. So I officially miss summer, the sun, and all its wonderful warmth. *siiiighhh* here's to a long and dreary few months (as if the last 5 months havent been dreary enough...)

In other new's, I finally chopped 5 inches off my hair. It was time. long over due. I had some weird attachment to my long hair (probably because it took me my whole life to get it?!?!) But with all the recent changes in our life- this was just the extra push to dive into more change. and I'm really glad I did it. Not only is it cute, but its easy to maintain & just feels healthier.  Also, I feel like chopping that much off somehow was me saying goodbye to some of the pain we've had lately.

I absolutely love this picture. I just got an iphone & the instagram app creates the coolest pictures! 

We do not do the fake Christmas tree thing. It's okay if you do- but we just love the smell of a real tree & the whole Christmas feel with it.

Scooter does this every time I get the wrapping paper out. I don't know what he is trying to communicate but it sure is hilarious...

right now I am counting down the days & hours until we are headed to St. Louis for a great Christmas break with my family. We both need it, so bad. I need to be with my family. I miss them, alot. I'm not sure what it is but during hard times, I just really miss them. Lately I have definitely wished we did not live so far away from both our families.

More later!

[.........]

Well, life has been rough for us the past 4 months. We've been through some terrible experiences that have left us with deep wounds. It's been hard to update this thing, knowing what we are going through. So- I'm sticking to the lighter things that have gone on in the last few months.

For Nate's 25th birthday I got him the coolest present ever. A 1-day pass for high speed touring to the Hallet Motor Circuit in Jennings, OK. I've never seen him so giddy & excited about something. We got the mustang & he got to drive to his hearts content.
I'm not gonna lie- he looked like a stud driving that beauty of a car. He also had the fastest lap time for his last round of driving. Nate got to live out a dream & I got a lot of joy out of seeing him so happy :)

This last picture is from awhile ago. It was spirit week at school & it was dress up as a hero day, so a few of us teachers gathered some resources & became The Incredibles. I was Dash- and let me tell you, the kids got more of a kick out of me being a "boy" then the fact that Mrs. Piston was dressed so ridiculous. Oh the joy's of being an elementary school teacher...