Sunday, July 7, 2013

Home Sweet Home!

Whew! April, May and June flew by! We have not had a weekend in Huntsville, together, since April. In fact, if I'm not mistaken the only month that we have been in Huntsville more weekends than we've been away is April. We are so relieved we don't have to be anywhere until the end of the month!

While being gone every weekend is exhausting, we are very thankful for both sets of parents who have let us crash at their houses on wedding weekends. We are also very thankful that our church has an app that allows you to listen to each week's sermon and that our Missional Community group (small group) meets on Mondays and not during the weekend. It has been great getting to know fellow believers that live in our area of Huntsville and having something to keep us grounded here while we've been so busy.

So we're finally home. The laundry is done. The dishes are done. The apartment is clean and we are currently in our seventh month of marriage.

Here are some pictures from our first six months of marriage! I can't believe it's been six months. God has been so good to us!

First Usborne Book Party

Dad's retirement from the Army

Sterling and AE's Superhero/Princess Birthday Party

David's 24th complete with Bauer approved decorations

David's Surprise Party

This is random but I discovered that I love baking.

Sterling's Huntsville Visit



She Must and Shall Go Free concert at Summit Crossing

 AE's Huntsville trip to Disney on Ice to see the Princesses

James Spann at Dave's conference

Game Night with friends


It's been busy but we've had a lot of fun these past several months!

Monday, February 11, 2013

UBAMondays


Callum Ormond has been warned.
He has 365 days.
The countdown has begun...
12 books. 12 months.



Hey Guys! I'm going to start a highlighting a book a week (maybe every two weeks) that I have found while selling Usborne. This week's book is a series called Conspiracy 365.

The tagline made me chuckle but I'm in April (book 4) and they are pretty good. It's about a 15-year-old boy, Cal Ormond, who is on the run trying to find out a secret about his family. This secret is one that his father was trying to communicate with him before his death. The story begins on New Years Eve with a warning from a man on the street: "They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days." Cal is thrust into the life of a fugitive after being wrongly accused of attempted murder and must find out this family secret to clear his name and keep his family safe.

With a main character who is on the run from two sets of bad guys and the police and with very few allies there is hardly time to catch your breath as Cal is hurdled from one life challenging situation to the next. This book is an excellent one for boys, girls who love adventure and mysteries and for the reluctant reader.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Cards for a Cause


My sister and brother-in-law are currently in the process of adopting from Ethiopia their third child. That means that the chances are pretty great that I have a little niece or nephew who is right now in an orphanage in Ethiopia.

The faster they get the money to do this, the faster my niece or nephew gets to come home, be loved, gain a family and have proper care and nutrition. I've been thinking about what I can do to help bring this member of the Winter/Vaughn family home. This past weekend, I found a way to help.


If you haven't heard, I am now a consultant with Usborne Books and More (UBAM), a publishing company that creates and distributes some of your favorite educational children's books (you can see their inventory at sikesbooks.com). This past weekend at our UBAM Training Weekend I learned about a great fundraising program through UBAM: Cards for a Cause.

At some point, we've all contributed to a charity by buying ugly wrapping paper or overpriced popcorn through a family member, a coworker's child, the kid who lives next door, etc. However, that cause or organization you're contributing to often ends up with only 25-30% of the funds—the rest goes to the company they fundraise through. So why am I even talking about Cards for a Cause if it's the same kind of thing? Because Cards For a Cause is SO MUCH BETTER. Why is it that?

1. For $30.00 you get 30 greeting cards. 30! That means each card is a dollar. Plus, as a bonus, just because Usborne is high quality and awesome you get a really, really cute keepsake box that holds them. Now, you may be thinking, "$30.00 for some greeting cards? No, thanks." But before you write them off, these are very high quality cards. Usborne makes really great products. I was skeptical about the cards, too, until I saw them. Each card is individually designed and embellished and wrapped with it's matching envelope that is designed to go with the card—no simple white envelopes. When I saw the cards I was shocked- these things at Walmart or Target would cost anywhere from $4.00-$6.00!

2. There are two choices: a greeting card box and a kids card box. You want some greeting cards?—done. You want some kids cards?—done. It's as easy as that.
***Side note: The kids cards are full of fun things like door hangers, stickers, magnets, etc.

3. The best reason this fundraiser is better: of the $30.00, $13.00 go directly to the cause: that's 42%! Most fundraisers give at most 40%. The remaining $17.00 of that money goes to Usborne, which means you're not only helping a cause but you're also helping a company that promotes literacy.

So here's the thing...

I am selling these boxes, and if you know Bethany and Alex, or if you just have a special place in your heart for adoption, I am asking you to help by either buying or selling boxes, even if that's just finding two people to sell boxes to. Because Bethany and Alex are not a tax-exempt program the boxes will actually be $33.00 to cover tax.

If you are interesting in making this family complete by buying a box or selling some boxes, or are interested in getting some really, really great greeting cards for a great price, email me at hillarysikes@gmail.com.

And obviously, since I want my niece or nephew here as soon as possible, any commission I earn from these sales as an Usborne consultant will also be contributed to this cause.



Aren't they precious!!!



Here's a little glimpse of the cards

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

So Here's the Thing...


So here's the thing....

You know how sometimes in life you say, "Hey, I think I'll blog through the next few months," but then you go to your blog and the last entry was posted September 3 and it's now February? That might have happened to me. I definitely wanted to blog as I planned the wedding but to think that I'd have time to do anything outside of eat, sleep, drive, work, school and plan was perhaps a little ambitious. From around September/October right up until two weeks before the wedding my schedule consisted of:

Sunday Night- Tuesday Afternoon: Nashville for class Monday and Tuesday 
Tuesday Night- Friday Evening: Tuscaloosa for work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at Arts 'N Autism
Friday Night- Sunday Night: Sylacauga for wedding planning with my mom.

My final projects for last quarter were actually due the week of the wedding but I turned them in the week before- I have no idea how I even got them done. As far as school is concerned I just have my two senior projects which are both due in March and then I'm done. I don't have class anymore- HOORAY!

As far as the wedding goes- well, it was a success :) We are married and I loved every minute of our wonderful wedding! We are so blessed and are so thankful for everyone who made our day so special!

These are some of our photographer's pictures:

All the girls! So grateful for each of these girls and their willingness to be a part of the wedding and for their place in my life!

The Colonel and the Mrs. 
My lovely parents celebrated 30 years in November!


Each of the flowers were made by Mom, Bethany and I, but mostly Mom. That's 13 bridesmaid bouquets, my bouquet, the throw away, two grandmothers, two mothers and 14 boutonnieres, all handmade. 


Our first look

My cousin, Lynn, also took a bunch of pictures throughout the day. We were very grateful. It was only right, she has taken pictures of our entire relationship so far.

JB was super bm during the reception. She followed me around with food and drink. Gotta love my 2. 

I LOVE this picture. 


We haven't gotten all of our photographer's pictures yet, but he has given us a fair few. From what we've seen, we are so very pleased. He did a beautiful job!






So there it is. We're official. 






         From this:                                                                    


To this:







Have a lovely day!


Monday, September 3, 2012

Surpise!

Hello! This is going to be a super short update.

I realize it's been way too long- perhaps a theme of this blog for this busy time. As of two weeks ago, I am officially living in Tuscaloosa. While all of my stuff is still in Nashville (as we figure out an inexpensive way to bring it all back), I am here. Barnes and Noble transferred me here and so in a few minutes I'm heading in for my second shift. The Lord has been good to not only bless me instantly with a job, but it looks like some weeks I'll even have more hours than I had in Brentwood.

Over the past two weeks I have found myself very busy. I'm still in school and have one class that I'll have to travel back to every couple of weeks to turn things in. This is possible because of David. He is allowing me to use his computer- which now has my animation program on it and his car to travel back when I need to. It is so good to be back and involved with Open Door. So far I have not only been able to attend church and Bible Study there again but also help out with a couple of things here and there.

On the wedding front, Lynn and I have been working out and getting in shape. Last week I went to Sylacauga at the beginning of the week and my mom, Bethany and I sat down and planned out decorations for the reception and on Wednesday my mom and I went shopping for some Bridesmaids gifts and the scrapbooking materials needed to make my Wedding Book.

So, there's a quick update on my life, and hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon. I must say, it's pretty fun living in the same town as David again!

Roll Tide.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

I'm back!


I know it's been way too long since I last posted, especially with the time between posts so packed with exciting things.  The week following my last post was spent with Joy Beth, Meghan and Tori. 

We spent a lot of time at Starbucks......


Then David came...


and we went to see The Dark Knight Rises at the midnight premiere...


and then we played Laser Tag! 

Yep, that's right! David and I ROCKED Laser Tag. 

David and I then headed to the mountains to vacay with his family. Last year we went to the beach but this year the summer vacation was in the mountains. It was so beautiful and relaxing.

There was a river behind our cabin and we went tubing on it a couple of times. Between the lazy parts of the river and the mini rapids it was a pretty good balance of relaxing and fun.


We also went on a hike because David loves hiking and the Appalachian Mountains. The hike was only around an hour but that hour was straight up a waterfall. The picture on the right is at the top of the waterfall and the picture on the left is a picture from about halfway up.


School started back the week I got back to Nashville and between school and my last few weeks of work things have been busy. Things haven't lightened up this weekend. Tori's friend from high school, Katherine Zylstra, is moving to Nashville because she got a teaching job. She is moving into our apartment this weekend and right now Tori and I are home for a couple nights in Sylacauga to help my mom and Jameson move his stuff to Jackson, TN where he will be attending Union University. He starts Monday in Jackson and Katherine started Wednesday so I probably wont blog again until next week but be on the look out for some exciting news coming to a place near you (if you happen to live in Alabama, that is).