Greetings From..

Reykjavik

I  C  E  L  A  N  D

The answer:

L  E  A  V  E 

the country!

Adam and I arrived in Iceland early Monday morning and will be enjoying our winter getaway all week long. Until next time :)

P.S. I may have shared a flight and bus ride with a certain HGTV star.

.Bucket List Before 30.

Adam and I have an exciting announcement to share with you.

We will be crossing something off on our Bucket List Before 30.

This particular something made it into the top 3 of our list.

Before we share..

..any guesses? 

(I'll give you a hint: NO BABY YET!)

.Winter Wonderland at Midnight.

.Today.

Today we watched the snow fall. 

Today was our first snow storm.

Tomorrow..well, tomorrow we will play. 

.Poop Strikes Again.

Trust me friends, I am as disappointed and disturbed

 by the title as you are. 

I cannot believe I am writing about, you know..number two, again on my blog. Here is my first rant about dare I say it--P O O P--and prepare yourselves for another wonderful post featuring our "star" of the week.

For those of you new to the blog, I am a nanny. I have been with the same family now for almost three years and watch their three girls ages 5, 3, and 7 months old. We have seen, smelt, and unfortunately felt a lot of poop together over the years. It is not something I am proud of..

I am 25 years old, not a mother, and have spent hours upon hours anticipating that sweet sound of tinkle tinkle and ploop-splash as it lands in the potty. Did you miss the part of me not being a mother yet? Potty training was an interesting and unforgettable experience and not something I'd like to do again. Sad news for me, one day I know I'll have a little one myself and have to do it all over again. I only pray it's "better" when it's your own child--if that is at all possible.

Good news since last time, Joy (age 3) is now a pro at using the potty so this post is not one about accidents..it's about poop..being..ugh.."stuck."

I do not mean constipated but actually stuck..half in, half out..okay, okay I'll stop we all sadly get the picture.

It first started with our dog Colden. He was taken to the vet yesterday morning and spent the day there because we had his teeth cleaned. Apparently all dogs go under when having their teeth cleaned, which is just another way for owners to spend more money, ah well. Good news, his teeth are sparkling and his nails got trimmed too! Score!

Why am I mentioning our dog in a post about poop being stuck?--Because he went under for his dental cleaning, his body began reacting. This meant poop and lots of it! Thankfully nothing came out in the house, phew..been there done that. I took Colden out in the backyard and he did his business, same as usual. As we were walking back towards the house he began freaking out--running in circles, whining, and smelling the ground everywhere. I stopped and just watched, it was entertaining at the time..He squatted again and this time his poop was liquid and squirting all over the ground..all over his fur..and all over his back legs.

From a distance I cringed.

All of a sudden, Colden yelped and began wiping his butt on the grass..the very same grass he just did his business on. I went over to him to see what was wrong and saw a string of poop stuck. It just would not "let go" and drop to the ground. I picked up a stick and scrapped it off. Again, not one of my most proud moments. We walked onto our deck and I tied him there as I ran inside to get a wet cloth to clean his fur. The smell was enough to kill ya--truly I think I found a new way of torture. Colden was cleaned and placed in his crate to dry.

I washed my hands three times and still swore I smelled his poop. The girls were thankfully in naptime when this happened so I jumped right in the shower!

Success. I was clean, smelled like vanilla, and standing in my towel when I heard, "Katie! Katie! My poop is stuck!!!!"

This was coming from Grace, age 5, as she was frantically trying to "unstick" her poop. I opened the bathroom door to find more lovely poop odor and fingers covered in poop. Why? Why? I used wipes and scrubbed that child's bottom. She was right--her poop was stuck! It was not solid or liquid..it was in the middle, I think that's the worst of all! I got her all cleaned up and put back into her room for another 30 minutes of quiet time while I showered AGAIN!

Katie + Someone else's poop = Shower Shower Shower!

I am clean once again as I type this post. Adam and I have the girls all weekend because their parents and the baby are away. Here's to hoping the rest of the weekend goes "smoothly"..in every sense of that word!

Oh poop how I loathe you.

Happy Friday!

.What Valentine's Day Revealed To Me.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and as cheesy as the holiday may be, it got me thinking about love. When I woke, I found I had an extra skip in my step and was eager to serve my husband. This of course meant, Katie make a killer breakfast for Adam.

Adam surprised me in the afternoon with flowers and not just any random flower, he remembered and chose our wedding flowers. The fact Adam thought to buy me something sentimental as well as beautiful truly showed me the man I married. His mind works wonders and I am constantly blown away by his actions and thoughtfulness. I have a keeper.

On my way to work I found myself happy,  I was truly beaming. I belted out to Adele on my drive and something happened. Her lyrics brought me back in time 7 years when my heart was broken by a man I loved. I felt a heaviness consume my body. As her song, Someone Like You, played in my car the lyrics sunk in and I felt pain. For a minute, I became 18 and 19 year old Katie. These emotions took me by surprise and I began to pray.

Suddenly, a peace and joy entered my body. The Lord reminded me what He had done in my life--the happy new beginning He gave me. My heart was not broken anymore for I was given a new heart..one that loves my Heavenly Father and a man by the name of Adam Everett. Through teary eyes and a smile, I sang along knowing I was not that heart broken girl anymore..I am now a woman. 

I feel as though I am a rare story. I found the love of my life after heartache and I moved on. I did it. I know so many men and woman who are still searching for love and still clinging to past loves. I really feel special, just plain lucky. The Lord gave me a new beginning in life and it was the day I married Adam.

Adam is not my happy ending, he is my happy beginning. We have so much life to live and I am blessed to have a Godly, thoughtful man by my side every single day. 

My first relationship ended but it did not end me. It made me the woman I am today and has made me wiser and stronger. I can rock out because I know the happy new beginning that was given to me and wow, was it ever a good looking new beginning..

(Back to our Valentine's Day!) When Adam came home from work I felt like a kid..I was giddy inside. We went out to our favorite Thai restaurant and enjoyed a long dinner together with great conversation. If you know my husband--you know that boy sure can gab! During our meal, it came out Adam had never seen The Notebook and it was decided then and there that was how our night would end. We stopped at Walmart, bought the movie, and headed home.

To change things from our normal routine, we blew up the air mattress in our living room and topped it with pillows and blankets--silly but so fun! As we snuggled up with each other and Colden, we watched The Notebook. Right away Adam was drawn in because it dealt with the 40's and he is simply enthralled with history. I was glued because um, I'm a girl! The movie was paused half way so we could have dessert which is a necessary break.

As the movie came to an end I was a wreck. I have seen this movie a dozen times but I was never married and that changes everything. Adam and I were silent as the credits played and when I glanced over at him, he was a crying mess. We both sat up and were shocked by the heaviness we felt in our chest. I have never seen Adam like this before, it hit him hard. The two of us had to walk away from one another because we knew we would have completely lost it if we held hands or hugged.

We kissed goodnight knowing how lucky we are to have found love,     a great love.

My Valentine's Day was one to remember. I did not know where the Lord would take my heart and what He would teach me and as always, I was left truly humbled by His actions and the love He continually gives me.

I am a blessed woman.

.Little Touches in the Kitchen.

Adam and I (well, mostly me) have been making big plans for our kitchen. There has been talk about adding an island or peninsula and creating a mudroom area of our guests and of course, us. These things are just "talk" for right now and we are both a-okay with that fact. I did, however, want to add a few little touches to our kitchen that would not upset our wallet (or the husband!).

You may remember we have already changed the hardware and painted the walls a soothing gray. Our kitchen was simply needing new dish towels that would tie in all of the colors, a new floor mat, and I needed to figure out what to do with the space above the sink. These are the little touches I came up with, like I said..little but they sure make me happy!

Have you added any little touches to your home recently? 

I love how small changes really change the look of a room and more important--how they make you feel about a room. I am very pleased with our kitchen and excited for what 2012 has in store for it.

(Dish towels, floor mat, and mirror are from Target. Cabinet hardware from Ikea.)

.Weekending.

Happy Monday!

Today's post will be short and sweet.

Adam and I celebrated love this weekend--we went to a wedding! My dear friend from college married the man of her dreams and we were honored to be there.

The wedding was beautiful and the state of Maryland had a little surprise for everyone--snow! Big white snowflakes silently fell as Cynthia and Matt declared their love for one another. 

It was magical.

God's presence was felt by all and we wish the happy couple nothing but blessings for the years to come.

 We love you Mr. and Mrs. Cook!

.Little Things Bring Smiles Part 15.

The name of my blog is

Little Things Bring Smiles.

I chose this title because it is important to remember the little things in life and to rejoice in them. My reason for blogging is to share my life, all parts of it {including the good, the bad, and the ugly} along with my home, crafts, and DIY projects I complete. Each month I want to focus on the little things that brought smiles to my days. 

I would love for you to share your little things and see if they bring a smile to me, or another reader :)

 Here are my little things from January:

- Visiting with Adam's family from Minnesota

- Making meals following my mother's recipes

- Hugging with little nieces and nephew

- Showing our family our new house for the first time

- Enjoying movie double dates 

- Game nights at my mother-in-law's house

- Celebrating a late "Cookie Sheet Christmas" with Adam's family

- Exchanging gifts with the night owls who are the Millers

- Taking a trip to the children's museum with my nieces and nephew

- Celebrating New Years with the Holm family (my mother-in-laws fam)

- Sharing time with the Holms when everybody got to talk openly 

- Bonfires 

- Sleeping in with Adam

- Cleaning the house (really, I love to prepare it for guests!)

- Experiencing our first snow flurries for about a minute
- Completing a DIY craft project

Always remember,

Little Things Bring Smiles!