Exploring

Jacob is in such a fun stage right now.  He is a proficient walker (getting pretty close to running, too) and our walks down to the south playground are slow and full of exploration.  I love it.  I snapped some pictures of it this week so I can remember.

An airplane flew overhead.  He always hears them and he can always spot them.

We love our playground friends!  And I love their moms!

sunnyvale avenue

Moving day is in less than one month, so before I started packing everything up, I wanted to get some pictures of our apartment.  We have loved Sunnyvale Avenue.

Living Room

 Gallery Wall Detail

Office Space

I bought and added this fabric onto our curtains to make them long enough.

Kitchen

Entry Way

Bedroom

Converted Unto the Lord in 2013

The year 2013 was a big year for us.  It certainly wasn't my favorite year and I am looking forward to 2014.  Shall we reminisce for a moment?

Right before Thanksgiving I received the following email from a sister in our ward:

Hi Karin,

It’s your lucky day! 

As part of my calling as ward photographer, I also put together a quarterly newsletter. The newsletter usually includes a little piece written by someone in the ward reflecting on one of the year’s themes. For our end of the year newsletter, the bishop has asked that YOU write up a short piece around the overall theme of the year (“Converted Unto the Lord”). This is a short piece - you can determine how long you’d like it to be and it’s pretty much a “free choice” topic (really, I find that most things can fall under “conversion” — anything that helps strengthen faith also develops a stronger “conversion”). 

Is this something you’d be willing to do? There’s no rush. As long as I have it within the next two weeks or so…(by December 5?). 

Thank you,

Her Name

This is what I wrote and it was in the ward's newsletter which was passed out last Sunday:

Converted Unto the Lord

At the beginning of 2013, I made a New Year’s Resolution to read the scriptures every day.  Of course I have missed days here and there, but overall I have been able to invite the Holy Spirit into my life each day.  This habit, along with daily personal prayer and trying to write in my journal frequently, has helped me to draw close to my Father in Heaven.

This year brought significant trials and heartache.  As I have relied on the Lord and on my testimony, I have come to learn of the strength a solid foundation in the gospel can be.

Elder David A. Bednar said, “Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of testimony.  Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of conversion.”

The choice to have faith can be a hard choice, and I have often felt that my faith is insufficient.  But, as I have prayed and echoed the words “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief,” Heavenly Father has blessed me with faith and strength beyond my own (Mark 9:24).

To exercise faith, I make choices each day that bring me closer to the Lord and demonstrate my obedience to Him.  I study the scriptures, I hold Family Home Evening with my husband, I attend my Church meetings, and I serve in my Church callings.  Even when it feels as though my prayers are going unheard and unanswered, I continue to pray in faith.  I have been taught, and at some point have felt, that Heavenly Father is listening and that He answers prayers.  I choose to have a happy heart and to remember that the Lord’s hand is in the details of my life.

Through all of these things, I have felt Heavenly Father bless me and I have felt the Atonement be an active power in my life.  The Atonement works because Jesus Christ suffered not only for my sins, but also for every pain and heartache I would feel.  Because of this, my Savior knows exactly how to succor me and lift me up. 

I know that we are here on earth to prove ourselves worthy to return to live with Heavenly Father.  Part of proving ourselves means that we will be challenged.  As we keep the gospel in the forefront of our lives at all times, it becomes the foundation of our lives and gives us strength and power.

Consistently being true to the gospel – through happy times and through hard times – I am converted unto the Lord.

It was a very sweet experience putting into words the things that I have felt this year, and while I am excited to move forward in 2014, I am so grateful for how I have grown.

A brief look back at the year:

January 2013 - 

Karin bought an iPad mini!  It's been an awesome purchase.

Karin (finally) diagnosed with PCOS after 9 months of trying to conceive.

We moved from our first apartment in Walnut Creek to our current apartment that we totally adore.  (Some of you sent Christmas cards to our old address - ask me to get our new one.  I don't want to put it on the internet.)

Ben baptized one of our friends!

February 2013 - 

Karin had surgery to remove some large cysts.

Ben traveled to New York City for work training and got to explore lots of exciting restaurants while in the city.

March 2013 - 

Ben turned 26!  And we had a blast throwing a party to celebrate with our ward friends!

April 2013 - 

I can't think of anything besides just working . . Ben for Ernst & Young and Karin at Chateau at Poet's Corner.

May 2013 - 

We vacationed with Ben's family in Destin, Florida!

We hiked Land's End in foggy, foggy San Francisco after breakfasting at our favorite Dottie's True Blue Cafe.

June 2013 - 

We vacationed in Seattle and the San Juan Islands in Washington with Karin's family!

We celebrated our THREE YEAR wedding anniversary by dining at the restaurant where we had our pre-wedding family dinner.

Karin's little sister turned 8 and we went to Merced for her baptism.

July 2013 - 

Ben competed in his first triathlon - a little "Tri For Fun!"

We were put in charge of our ward's Pioneer Day Celebration (and we're glad that's over).

Karin turned 24!

August 2013 - 

We found out that we had conceived after our first round of fertility medications!

Ben accomplished his New Year's Resolution of gaining "Yelp Elite" status!

Ben bought a new road bike!

Ben's parents came out to California to visit us for a whole week around Labor Day!

Karin quit her job on the last day of August!

September 2013 - 

At 7 weeks, we found out that my pregnancy was ectopic and that we had miscarried.  :(

Ben competed in the Pacific Grove Olympic Distance Triathlon and got 12th in his age group!  Karin loved cheering and Mom came over from Merced to help cheer Ben on!

Once back on her feet, Karin spent her job-less time crafting and flower arranging and baking.

We enjoyed our first "Yelp Elite" perk - free tickets to CalShakes!

Karin's parents came up to the Bay Area to take us to the San Francisco Symphony!

Karin took advantage of not working and spent two days babysitting her sibling in Merced.

October 2013 - 

Karin signed up for ballet classes at the local ballet studio - it is nice to have that love back in life.

We visited our friends, the Dorffs, who now live only an hour away!

Karin got a new job!  She now works with seniors and mentally delayed adults at Rehabilitation Services of Northern California.

We spent a weekend in Merced - the girls getting pedicures and the boys cycling.

November 2013 - 

Ben traveled to upstate New York for a week of work training.

Karin spent a whole week in Merced babysitting her siblings. (Unfortunately those were different weeks.)

We spent Thanksgiving week in Utah with Ben's parents and sister's family.

Karin had a Hysterosalpingogram - sounds fun, eh?

December 2013 - 

We accomplished our New Year's Resolution for temple attendance!

Ben ran the Walnut Creek Half Marathon!

We spent Christmas with Karin's family in Merced and at the beach house in Cambria.

christmas decor

I made this wreath, and once I added the big red bow I've been totally pleased with how it turned out!  The ribbons are a light tan with green, sparkly Christmas trees on them.

I made this last year and I still think it's pretty great.

These are from Michael's and I think they're adorable.

I put Christmas-y prints in most of the frames of our gallery wall.  Thank you, Pinterest.

This is the cutest little Nativity.  It's from Kneader's, of all places!

Ben's sister Kristi made us these stockings and Ben's sister Ashley made us the advent calendar.  Both totally impressive and totally key to our Christmas decor!

I love our little tree this year!

Target strikes again.

And, again.

thanksgiving decor & dinner for two

Happy November, world! 

I made a few simple decorations this year: painted canvases and Thanksgiving fabric banners.  I love them both - so fun!

I also honestly just couldn't wait another week for Thanksgiving fare, so I spent Friday afternoon making a Thanksgiving Dinner for Two!  Complete with a 3-lb. turkey breast (so tender and cute), mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and green beans!  Instead of pumpkin pie, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!  We've had leftovers for the last 2 days and it's been a delight.

halloween garlands di-myself

Okay so I had so much fun over General Conference weekend crafting some Halloween decor for our apartment.  I don't even like Halloween, but the crafting was fun.  I will say this though - they would definitely all look better and cuter if we lived in a nice house without ugly walls and with a mantle - but, I made them and I think that on their own, they're totally cute.

The first one - Fabric Halloween Banner - you can find the tutorial HERE.

It was so fun picking out these fabrics.  Because you only need 1 yard of fabric total, I picked out 1/8 yard of 8 different fabrics.  That way, I got to pick out lots of patterns and it was really cheap - about $6.

This banner is so cute, it may be my favorite - I call it "little ghosties" - and you can find the tutorial HERE.

I didn't follow the tutorial exactly.  Instead of doing a one layer ghost with a straw on the back for the string to pass through, I did two layer ghosts and glued the string in between each layer of felt.  This way it can be seen from both sides if needed.  I also didn't embroider the faces because I don't have that kind of talent or patience; I drew them on with a black Sharpie.

The two other garlands are way cute, too - you can find the tutorial for the googly eye garland HERE, and the other is a simple paper chain and we all know how to do that.  

For the googly eye garland, I didn't use fishing line like the tutorial instructs.  I saved my money and used the same string I had used for the ghosts.  It's pretty simple - just glue two eyes together with the string in between, and make sure that the string is towards the top of the eye balls or else they will hang horizontally and no one wants that.

When I made the paper chain garland, I used 4 different Halloween papers - one with a pattern and three without.  I also cut the strips a lot thinner and shorter that we did when we were kids - it's a little bit cuter and more mature-looking.  I laid them out in a pattern before using a hot glue gun to secure each link.

I made a good investment for all of these crafts: a low-temperature hot glue gun - it saved my fingers lots of pain!

So now I'm really struggling to make all of the garlands look cute together.  It may be too much with all four.

I have one set of garland on a blank wall that I am pretending is a mantel over a fireplace.  Ha!

The other set of garlands is in between our kitchen and living room.  It looks like a lot in this picture, but I like these 4 together here.

To help with my pretend-mantel-wall, I made some Halloween artwork to go above the garlands.  Just simple canvases with painter's tape in abstract design.  I used the colors from the fabric, also just Halloween colors, and when the paint had dried, the tape peeled right off.

I'm still playing around with all of the garlands here . . I keep taking the paper chain off and putting it back on and I keep rearranging.  Oh, if only I had a mantel!!  I'm sure it would look good then.  Right?

I think I'll do it like this.

Anywho, it was fun.  Happy Halloween in this household!