Wow...

 So, I just realized that it has been quite some time since I blogged & completely forgot to blog about Thanksgiving! Being that CHRISTmas Eve is in just 10 short days, I figured I should blog about what The Richards have been up to, before I get really behind! :)

Where to start, where to start? We feel so blessed that we get to spend the holidays with both of our families, it really helps that they live within 15 minutes or so of each other & we pray that as our family expands that we will always be able to spend the holidays with both sets of families, because it is so important to us. It just always happens to work out that time conflicts never occur either, The Richards Family tends to celebrate earlier in the day, where as Jenna's family tends to celebrate more in the evening.

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving, we started out the morning with the Annual LaLoma Grace Brethren football game, then we quickly ran home to change into our "nice clothes" then headed off to Mom & Dad Richards house. We definitely enjoyed our fill of turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie & all kinds of other Thanksgiving treats. After hanging out there for a while, we headed over to Jenna's Aunt & Uncle's house for some more food! :D My oh my were we full & in a definite food coma by the end of the night! We so enjoyed the beautiful day we had with both of our families, and spent a little time wondering if we would be bringing a baby along next year :) We sure hope so & would definitely appreciate your prayers on that matter!!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving...

Jenna's "little cousins", Annie & Adam ;)

Catrina, Jenna & Jordan.

Jenna's Mom, Jody & Aunt Janis :)

The girlies on Jenna's side of the family :)

Adam, Annie, Catrina, Jenna, Jordan & Austin :)

Family :)

HA HA HA

The Richards :)

:)

I love us :)

Thanksgiving 2011

We celebrated Jenna's Mom's birthday on the 28th :)

We also got to hang out with Katie while she was home!
Katie, Ryan, Jordan & I all went bowling... boy was that comedic :)

Katie & Jordan :)

Ms. Katie & Jenna :)

We really enjoyed being able to spend time with Katie & Will while they were home, we miss them so much while they are gone at school.

We have been eagerly awaiting CHRISTmas, it is by far one of our favorite times of the year! We love everything that it represents :) Reflecting on the true meaning of CHRISTmas is something that is so important to us, having a relationship with our Lord is something that is so precious to us & something we are so thankful for every day. Decorating our house, getting our tree, hanging our stockings, drinking eggnog, continuing our tradition of watching CHRISTmas movies everyday - so many fun things!

We want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & a Blessed New Year - May you have the gift of faith, the blessing of hope and the peace of His love at Christmas and always.


Love & Blessings,
J & J

Happy Birthday, Dad

Today would have been my Dad's 53rd Birthday. I have truly missed him every minute since he left. At times I feel envious that he is in the place we all long to be, Heaven - a place where all of the trials & struggles of this life are no more and life & love never end. Today... I am missing him, as I have all of the days before, but I am also choosing to be thankful for all of the time & memories I did have with him, while wishing I still had just one more. Happy Birthday Dad, I love you & I can't wait to see you again.

"No farewell words were spoken, no time to say goodbye. You were gone before we knew it & only God knows why. Our hearts still ache in sadness & secret tears still flow. What it meant to lose you, no one will ever know. But now we know you want us to mourn for you no more, to remember all the happy times, life still has much in store. Since you'll never be forgotten, we pledge to you today, a hallowed place within our hearts is where you'll always stay."

Love,

Jenna

Our first photoshoot...

While working at Shoob I met a girl named Shawna, unbeknownst to us we were neighbors... her & her husband Ben had moved to Riverbank from Oregon a little over a year ago & they now live right down the street from us :) Like me, both Shawna & Ben share a love of photography - Shawna is also trying to start a photography business of her own... so she asked Jordan & I to play her models one Sunday afternoon & these are just a few of the pictures from that day...

I have the most handsome hubby ;)

We are calling these our "1 Year" photos, because they were taken just a little after our 1 year anniversary :) I can still barely believe we have been married 1 year... actually, almost  1 1/2! We are blessed.

Love & Blessings,

J & J

Obsessed....

So... I had heard about this cool website a while ago, where people share all kinds of cool ideas through little "pins" aka pictures, on this website called Pinterest. So... last week, I looked up the app on my phone & anxiously awaited my "invite" (yes, you have to be invited). It didn't take long to get my invite, I actually got it this morning, I was so excited to see what it was about! They have the cutest ideas on there.... anything from photography, fashion, wedding ideas, baby room ideas, recipes, photography, DIY stuff... the list is endless! When you click on the picture it takes you to the original post so you can see what the pin is all about - definitely a great web invention! I urge you to go check it out :)

Love & Blessings,
Jenna

Today...

Today, I have realized that I need to work on something...

PATIENCE: (n)
1. Bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint
2. Manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain
3. Not hasty or impetuous
4. Steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
5. Able or willing to bear

I also realized that in order to do that, I need to fully accept that God is in control & that everything happens in His perfect time. I am perfectly okay with that statement. He knows much better than I do, He sees the big picture. The bible does says that patience is a virtue. Now... PUT THIS INTO PRACTICE, JENNA! ;)

 Psalm 139:13-14
¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.

 That is one of my favorite bible verses :)

Love & Blessings,
Jenna

Halloween 2011

Halloween feels like it came so soon! It seems like we were just celebrating our S.F. Giants World Series victories, but as I've said in many previous posts... this past year seems to have just flown by!

So... as I also discussed in our previous post, Jordan & I are trying to start a family (we would definitely appreciate your prayers on that matter)... we figured this may or may not be our last Halloween without a child, so when we got the invites to a few costume parties in honor of Halloween, we were all for it! ;) The first night, I borrowed a cop costume from a friend (free is always better lol) & we made Jordan's costume with stuff he already had at home, he was a "cholo" lol The second night, I wore the cop costume again & Jordan borrowed a costume from my cousin Adam... he was Pauly D from the reality show Jersey Shore! :)

Arresting my "cholo" husband ;)

My sister - Catrina, Beth, Me & Ashley...  headed to our first party of the weekend.

Love me some Pauly D! ;)

Josh, Jesse & Jordan :)

Happy Halloween!!

Jordan & Jake :)

All in all, we had a fun weekend celebrating with friends & family - Halloween night we went trick or treating with my little cousin, Aunt & Uncle. We also spent a little time wondering what next Halloween would hold... hopefully we'll be holding a baby! ;) I also took  my "little" cousin Annie's senior pictures this past weekend, I guess she isn't so little anymore :( She is stunning & it made for an easy photography session! I'll share some of her pics soon!

We hope everyone had a fun  & safe Halloween!

Love & Blessings,

 J & J

Our Fall trip to the cabin...

 As many of you know, Jordan's family has an adorable cabin nestled in a national forest - what could be better?! It's one of our favorite places to escape to, and we go any chance we get :) So, when Jordan's parents said they would be going to close it up for the winter & that they needed some help with a few repairs... we hopped in the car & drove up for the weekend.

My favorite.

Chimney cleaning = precarious ladder situation.

Just a lil' bit of snow on the ground.

Brother's fishing :)

Gorgeous Lake Alpine.

He is too cute!

Waitin' on a bite...

Watch out... professional fisher-woman here ;)

I was actually the only one that caught a fish that day! Woohoo!

This huge mud puddle = one dirty car

THE cabin :)

L.O.V.E.

Getting ready to head home.

Such a great picture of these two!

Momma Jane & I, getting ready to head home.

It was a great time! We can't wait to go back again! :)

Love & Blessings,

J & J