Why I think bad things happen to good people....

I have let this blog fall by the wayside, and yes I even forgot I had one for, oh four months. Life has a way of doing that. Life gets in the way of good intention by throwing you cruve balls. They come at you so fast you can't jump out of the way in time and you end up falling in pain, lying broken and beaten at home. 2010 had it's ups and downs for me. Some ups higher then years before and a few downs lower then I thought God would ever allow.

One thing is true about the ups and downs of life, had I not been where I was in my faith and relationship with God when 2010 arrived I honestly don't think I would've come out kickin in 2011. I've come to realize that yes bad things happen to good people, and yes that sucks!!! But my personal belief is it's not God's intention or design for these bad things to happen to us, his beloveds.

Here is my personal belief, and feel free to completely disagree. My personal belief is that the Satan/Lucier/Devil (you pick the name) is jealous of God's unconditional forgiving love for us, and so he tempts us, throws us down into pits, and challenges us to place all the blame God for how we got there. "Why me? Why did you let this happen to me God? Why would God do that, or allow it?"

How often are these the first phrases we reach for when we're laying broken and beaten at home? But I think that's just what Satan wants from us. He wants to hinder us and others from growing in a close, strong, and personal relationship with our forgiving and love Father. But why?

Again, these are all just my PERSONAL beliefs......So, why do I think Satan wants to harm our relationship and pull us away from God. I believe that it is because we are saved, we are forgiven, and we are loved. We can lie, cheat, steal, murder and no matter what we are forgiven. Lucifer didn't get a secon chance or in our case chances. He fell from God's grace, that's why he's called the fallen angel. He fell and God didn't send his only son to redeem him. No God instead created us, in his image, a perfect reflection of him. We spent paradise with him until sin entered the world through Satan's attempt to show God that we would and could do no better then him but to fall short of God's glory. And so we fell, but God loved us so much that ... well John 3:16.... that he sent his only son... and hopefully you know the rest.

So see my personal belief is that it's not God we should blame when life throws us curve balls, but it is Satan who tempts us, throws us down into pits, and wills us to fall away from our loving Father. I started to see things this way long before the 2010 threw it's worst at me, and I have to say that I'm pretty sure it's this belief in God's uncondtional love that has kept me sane and led me to my current path.

 I do have to say that despite it all, I am still a hopeless optimist. I feel like 2011 will bring amazing, wonderful, and brilliant changes to my life.  In fact I can say without a shadow of a doubt I know that last statement is 100% true. I've already started the wheel of change rolling and I can't wait to see where it's taking me and my pup.

One thing is for sure God has blessed me with amazing friends, family, and an amazing dog to go on these next great adventures with! So I thank God for all he's done and all I know he'll continue to do.

Okay time for a montage of the year 2010 (only the best moments were captured on film forever... there's a reason for that... so you forget the bad and only remember the good) ... here's just a snap shoot of the good moments!! :)

My Best Friend Rach and I at Jenn's wedding.... my sista from another mother!! :)

My sister from the same mother and best friend Jenn and I on the night she got hitched.

Mr. and Mrs. Jenn and Joe Eickman

ICEFISHING!!!!!!!! we do it up right... andy, sofie, anne, shellie, and I

Sof and I at the Lady A/ Tim McGraw concert

Brodie came to visit me!! Him, me, and Christina!!! :)

my dad and i at the drake basketball game for his bday

My sister and I in Texas tailgating at a Nascar race... so American :)

All dressed up and places to go! Alex, Me, Anne, and Sofie

Happy Birthday to Mic and I.... Christina, Mickie, me, and Kelli

my sis and I at an icubs game when she came back from texas

Bestie from High school Ms. Devon Leslie and I going out K.C. Style

wouldn't survive work without good friends... Jerry, me and Christina

Me, Aaron, and Christina doing it 50309 style

Wedding crashers... Brodie and I

Bachelorette party... Jennie, me, Laurie, Steff, Hope, and Dawn

Steff and I at her wedding!

Steven and I at the after party of Steff's wedding

The sexy six reunion... Alyssa, Sofie, me, Anne, Amanda, and Liz

Another Bach party... Jenna, Sofia, Alex, Cassy, me, and Alicia

Brodie and I doing it up Chi-town style on the trolley

Charissa and I...though we cheer for different teams we still love each other

Thursday night is wing night... Hope, Steff, Me, Jennie, and Dawn

25 is a big deal, Devon's bday... Dustin, Devon, Nate and I in K.C.

Bridesmaids... Jenna, Sofie, me, and Alex

Why I <3 my friends... CLUE!!! Brandon, Amanda, Anne, me, Matt, and Brodie

Anne, me, Amanda, and Liz in St. Paul for Halloween

Rockin out with Christina

So many more pics to choose from but I figured I'd stop there.

Happy New Years all!!! Stay tuned for the great adventures of Morelli and Kate... big changes to come.... ya'll!!

How time seems to get away from you!

When I first started this blog I had every aspiratation of posting regularly with puppy updates and funny stories, but life got in the way as it will so often does. Morelli is now over 6 months old and 46 lbs. He is looking more and more like a dog each day and less like a puppy, however, he will forever be called a puppy by me.

He's officially eaten two harness, one collar, and the carpet in a bathroom. All of which was done when he was left alone while I went out for dinner, or while my parents watched him and left him on the deck for a while. I think he does it just to spite us because he is mad he's by himself. :) He's such a princess sometimes and needs to be around me constantly. Don't get me wrong it's nice to be that unconditionally loved until those times when you want to take a nap and he wont stop licking your face.

Morelli went with me to a family tailgate and hit it off with my 3 year old cousin Paul... no big surprise considering one of Paul's first words was puppy, and everything with four legs was called  a PUPPY!! :)  Here's some pics from that.

Action shot... someones excited to go cheer on the Cyclones!

Forgot to rotate this pic but i love it... My grandpa with his great granddaughter Autumn

Autumn kickin' it with her big cousin Ash

from the far left: my cousins Brea and Heather, my mom, and Brea's son Paul and his Grandma my Aunt Brenda

Yes i can still pick him up... not sure for how long.

My mister man!! Love this pic my cousin Ash took

Paul and I!!!

The lovely homemade ISU bandanna my mom and I whipped up that morning

I love my pup and as I type this he is laying in the sun staring at me as if to say... Umm you've been on your computer all morning and in the kitchen cooking when are you going to play with me? So this post was short but I'll try to be more regular about it. Off to finish my baking and to play with my pup on this GORGEOUS November Veterans day!

nap time!

P.S. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS SERVED, SERVES, AND WHO WILL SERVE OUR COUNTRY IN THE FUTURE!!! I can never thank you enough for all you do for us!!! God Bless You All and keep you safe in all you do!!!!

Kate

HAWKS OR CYCLONES?!?!?!?!?!?! A pup divided!

My dad loves watching Iowa football with his grandpup and he has even tried to get him to wear their apparel apparently....

Hawks!

 

 

So I counteracted it with ISU garb.... ironically Morelli struck the same exact pose for both picture days apart.

My roommate said this is his sass pose :)

Needless to say he's cute either way!!!! GO STATE! :)

Nat'l Puppy Mill Awareness Day Dog Walk

So I know I already posted once today but this is back to pertaining about dogs!!!

If you live in the Iowa or the Greater Des Moines area and were trying to find something to do on Saturday come join Morelli and I at the National Puppy Mill Awareness Day Dog Walk!

Why should you join in?
A. Well, your dog loves walks right? And we could all us the exercise :)
B. But that's not the only reason... face the facts.

• Iowa has the 3rd largest number of puppy mills in the nation more than 400.
• An estimated 4 million dogs are bred in puppy mills every year.
• Female dogs are usually destroyed when they are no longer able to produce puppies.
• 95% of puppies sold in pet stores come from puppy mills.
• At puppy mills, dogs are bred for quantity, not quality.

So now the question is not "Can they reason?" nor "Can they talk?" but rather.."Can they suffer"

In a nut shell puppy mills breed a large number of dogs for quantity, the dogs that are used to breed as well as the puppies are kept in horrible living conditions and treated poorly. They are not considered a family pet to charish at these facilities. To learn more click this link: http://www.noiowapuppymills.org/puppyMills.html

So what can you do to help... because...

She can't open her cage... but you can!
Join in the walk!!!

Event Details:

National Puppy Mill Awareness Day Dog Walk
Saturday, September 18, 2010
9AM - Noon
State Capitol - West Mall
National Puppy Mill Awareness Day is Saturday, September 18, 2010. We'll commemorate
the day with a Dog Walk on the Capitol grounds in Des Moines.
Bring your dog and walk for the 23,000+ dogs trapped in Iowa puppy mills who never
get to go for a walk.

Let's tell Iowa that we're serious about fixing the puppymill problem in our state!

 

Sonya Heitshusen of Channel 13 WHO News will be our Emcee and Senators Staci Appel
and Matt McCoy will speak about the recent passage of The Puppy Mill Bill.

Some local shelters will have display tables set up. Please bring an item to donate
to a shelter: pet food, pet toys, towels, blankets, cleaning supplies. Monetary
donations also appreciated.

Help us get the word out by printing and distributing this announcement to your
friends, family and co-workers: Des Moines Event Announcement [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=g7sfc6cab&et=1103663662390&s=1269&e=001ZBMmNXBBwB4w7GSuYRGszIeZubJyeDOCJOEHqdsZPrD1ufJws5OLSfQ2WdFpQhV9RFZjigFLGD9Ur9Ym3oLULGLdrYq3v_qBke-ExIJvGjEq42J-9cdwIgEgAt_vQmqgUp3QIm5FJcePbl-p0q1RH7MH0qrL0MkC7fUVFrNGVotPEj2VLKsFzlkVw2zov_mVjJim7jFnCGE=]

Here's a map showing various parking areas around the Capitol: Capitol Parking Map
[http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=g7sfc6cab&et=1103663662390&s=1269&e=001ZBMmNXBBwB6iCADHc_JGHrOQYKRWq3TMHEw9fI6dQftdD8UswVJ3Dy2iw5RZtWTKD-OdMqjaT4EztsHqqV81Txx-zunk6r5j23UxYyycMfuOHF-BTpIe8WbLwTfJfGTPDHgHAYj5Z6mui51OsnMD2dKpJ6xW6Xk0]
The parking ramp on the NW corner of Grand and Pennsylvania is a great option!
SEE YOU AT THE CAPITOL!
THANKS FOR TAKING TIME TO READ THIS POST!!!! :)

Morelli and I will be there... come join us!!

For more information please check out this website!!! http://www.noiowapuppymills.org/index.html

Happy Friday!!!!

God made us family, our hearts made us friends!! :)

I have to say that I am so incredibly blessed to have my family. Not just my mom, dad, sister, and brother in law (who are amazing).

Mom, Joe, Jenn, Me, & Dad and Jenn's Graduation from her Masters!!! You rock JENN!!!

But I was also blessed with an amazing extended family that are like brothers and sisters to me. Don't get me wrong we have our bad moments, fights, quirks, and embarrassing traditions (Christmas traditions rank up there as the craziest), but I do love them!!! My desk at work is covered in pictures of friends and family because, lets me honest, your eyes can only take staring at a blank cubicle wall for so long. My desktop of my computer is always changing to either pictures of Morelli, my travels with the fam, or to a pic of one of my new baby cousins. Some of my co-workers have asked if the kids are mine, or if they are my nephews or nieces. K, logically if I have a new born baby as my desktop and you didn't see me waddling around all huge you think you'd know the kid isn't mine :) But nope since you asked they are not, they are my cousins kids (i think that makes them my 2nd cousins than) and were just that close!!! So here's the reason for my post I am happy to announce that I have a new baby cousin Cole Brendan Marpe.

4lbs 7oz I believe so he's putting on a little weight

He wasn't due until Nov but he was just so excited to become a part of the family that he couldn't wait.

I have big feet for my size, I'm going to grow up to be really tall like my dad :)



Shades... check... fishy lips... check.... mastering the look that hundreds of girls on facebook try to make look this good... double check :)



He's such a cute little man and I can't wait till he gets a little healthier, bigger, and older so he can go home with his parents and big brother. Keep them in your prayers!

But that's not all folks... my co-worker Hayley yesterday said "I swear a kid is born in your family like every month" I had to laugh because that's not true but we were blessed with another little cousin this last January so I can see where she might think this. Autumn Lynn Hucka was born in January and although I'm a bit bias I do believe she is the cutest little baby I've ever seen with the biggest blue eyes.... I'm a sucker for blue eyes. I've always been jealous of my sisters blue eyes and she said she's always loved my brown eyes. I think it's one of those you always want what you can't have things.... but here's our little musician Autumn...

How frickin' cute is she?? :)

She's a little younger in this pic but so adorable this pic needed to be posted too!!

Well those our the new additions to the family recently.... i guess besides Morelli and my new brother in law Joe that is, but lets be honest he's old news he's been around for years. :) But they did have a beautiful wedding this last January so he's just as new to the family officially as Autumn is.

The newly weds! :)







Time flies when...

First off let me begin by saying I had this nice long post finished just now. I was editing it and somehow I lost it all!!!!!!! Seriously how frustrating is that? So here I go again....

It has been forever since my last post and as I'm sure not a lot of people read my posts I think it's safe to say I didn't terribly upset anyone with my lack of blogging motivation. Let me tell you, it was not from lack of ideas, as there was plenty, it was just that I was finally busy at work!! :) So to catch you all up on the fascinating life that is Morelli and Kate I will list a little of what has happened since the last post for you below. Here we go...

1. Morelli has lost all his baby/puppy teeth!!! What a big boy!! This did happen quite some time ago and unfortunately no, I do not have any pics of his teeth. But, as a result of this life event I did learn some disturbing facts about some of my friends and dog owners in general....

Did you know that there are people out there that...

SAVED THEIR DOGS BABY TEETH!!!!!!

How did I learn this fascinating fact you might ask? Well I went down to my friend Emily's desk (she owns a black lab and a yellow lab and is my go to person for lab pup advise and help with grooming) to tell her that Morelli had lost a few of his teeth. I said a few as apparently I had missed the first few falling out and his losing teeth was only brought to my attention one night by him noisily chewing on something... that something turned out to be a molar. So there I was telling Emily how I had to take the molar away from my dog the night before and she straight up asked me..."Did you save it?" Um no, I'm glad you asked, but indeed I did not save it. What???? Seriously, the thought did not even cross my mind. Is this a common thing? Do dog owners do this a lot? Apparently she kept her yellow labs teeth after she lost them. Okay so what do you do with them now?? This has lead me to believe that some parents out there must keep their kids teeth after they sneak into their room at night and take it out from under their pillow and replace it with a quarter (i know inflation has happened but it was only a quarter in my day). Do parents do this too??? Emily will you do this with your kids teeth as well and if so will each kid have their own separate teeth bag. Do you keep the bags o' teeth from your pets or kids in a box some where, or is this a major opportunity for scrapbooking amazingness. Mom ... Dad... did you save my teeth??? I'm curious to know! Such a perplexing concept!

moving on..

2. Morelli has had lots of play dates with his two BFFS. Graham a chocolate lab around 100lbs. and Cory another chocolate lab mix around 60lbs. He loves his play dates with all pups but I believe these two are his favorite and they're inseparable when together. Graham is my roommate's fiances' brother's dog. Did you follow that? And Cory is my old college roommate Amanda's and her husband Brandon's dog. His name is Cory short for corporal as Brandon was a marine. Morelli played outside with Graham all Labor Day and Morelli and Cory lived it up last weekend while tailgating for the ISU v Iowa game. GO STATE!!!!!

Morelli and Graham on Labor Day... Graham also goes by bighead :) ... you can guess why!

Stole this pic of Cory from Brandon's FB page as I have a pic of the two pups together but I haven't uploaded it to my computer yet!

Side note... bummer ISU lost last weekend!!! As a result I lost a bet with my boss at work and now I have a week of putting up with this in my cubicle...

It really doesn't bug me that much as I grew up a hawk, but if ISU would've won my boss would've had to put up with an ISU flag in his cube for a week and I just don't think he could do it... hence why i made the bet!

3. Morelli traveled with my parents and I to Kansas city for part of the Labor day weekend. He got to meet my uncle, aunt, and cousin. My sister and her husband were up from Texas that weekend so he also got to see his favorite aunt Jenn again and finally meet his uncle Joe. (he wishes he could see them more... or maybe that's me, but he's glad he gets to skype with them frequently.... or maybe that's me again). He also got to meet one of my best friends Devon. He didn't get the opportunity to meet her pup a boxer named Kingston but he will sometime soon and I'm sure they will hit it off. While in K.C. we went boating and Morelli went for a quick swim when he feel off the back of the boat as we floated in the middle of the lake.

I'm on a BOAT!!!

He also got to meet my aunt and uncle's dogs Riley the pug and Angel the Boston terrier. She gets her name sake from the LA baseball team. Angel and Morelli did not especially care for each other but Riley couldn't get enough of him. (videos of those two playing to come....  so hysterical pugs crack me up!)

4. Morelli found out that his name sake is soon going to be moving to the big screen. He was named after a character in the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum series. In the book Steph is a bounty hunter who is on and off again with a hot Italian cop named Joe Morelli. They call him Morelli a majority of the time in the books. When I was thinking of getting a dog I wanted an original name that no one else would have. I was debating between some old school names I liked from Jane Austen's amazing books or Morelli and I went with the latter. The books are pretty good and great summer reads that don't take long to get through. I found out recently that they're making a movie based on the first book of the series with Katherine Heigl as the main character Stephanie.... kind of excited to see how the movie will turn out cuz i love Katherine Heigl!!!! (and not just because we share the same name)   :) I can't say I'm too disappointed with who they got to play Morelli for the movie either!!! :) Very Nice!!!!

Actor playing Joe Morelli in the movie One for the Money, I'd say he does the name justice :)

Back to the dog Morelli...

5. Morelli was neutered this last Tuesday. He did really well with it and is back to his normal happy, healthy, and hyper self. His mom on the other hand cried after picking him up, and realized as I was talking to my parents that if I ever have to put him down years from now, I better be married, as I will not be able to make that decision or handle it on my own. I'm not normally a crier but seeing him like that and knowing it was my choice to neuter him hit my heart strings. He looked so sad after losing his manhood. :( Poor little guy! But my friend Emily tells me to keep in mind that neutering your dog helps to prevent certain cancers the older he gets so silver lining!!!

6. Babysitting... my parents aka grandpa and grandpa love babysitting their grandpup!!! They've been watching him at least one weekend a month if not two and they watch him every Tuesday night as I have sand volleyball. Since I've been really busy traveling for friends b-days, going to Chicago for vacation, and singing at or being in friends weddings this summer they've had quite a few opportunities to watch their grandpup. I knew my dad would be in love with watching Morelli right off the bat, but I am honestly in awe of my mom with my dog. Growing up she never really paid attention to our family dogs but she loves Morelli!!! She calls him peanut and he loves to sit in front of her and let her pet him. Ironic because I too frequently sits in front of her and lets her play with my hair :). I think my mom loves him because she really really really really really really really wants grandkids and this is as close as she'll be getting to having one any time soon!!! But it's super cute so I'll need to snag a pic of the two of them and post it :)

Well I believe that is all for now... future posts: videos of Riley and Morelli playing, pics of last weekends tailgate, skyping with my favorite aunt, learning to go on runs (this wont just be something Morelli will need to learn), ISU tailgating, Chicago (Morelli didn't go but the pics i took of the chi-town sky line from a hot air balloon are just to good not to blog about.), and family outings!

Most recent pic... my little man is growing up!

Have a wonderful Thursday!!!!

Kate