a becker christmas!

this is a picture of my grandpa's dream come true...

all of his 6 kids were together with their famlies this Christmas, the first time in a long time~ there were 35 of us total, the only missing one was my sister, who had to work :c(. we had a blast playing, eating, and hanging out. i felt completely blessed this Christmas, and i hope you did as well :c)

merry christmas!

merry Christmas from the Ofosu's!

we wish you all a safe and happy holiday, full of family, friends, and good food. but most of all, we pray that you are a follower of Christ, and that during the holidays you can remember the biggest act of love that this world has ever seen. God bless :c)

the gardners

meet the gardners!

they were surprised with a new addition to their family about 3 weeks ago, which was about 3 weeks before expected! she is a beautiful, healthy baby girl. on friday we did some last minute christmas pictures with their new family. enjoy~

pet photo shoot

a couple months ago i came across a seattle photographer who primarily shoots family pets.. how cool! since i've been making and attempt at almost every other kind of photography, i thought why not make my new puppy my subject (who is available and way more willing than my husband :c). i'm sure there'll be more to come, but here's our first session!

thoughtful

mysterious
aggressive!

and playful :c)

connor is here!

connor ryan was born on wednesday to his proud parents, chris and trista!

he is a sweet, quiet, and healthy baby boy

there's just something about seeing your man hold a precious newborn (but no, lindsey, it does not mean there is any baby fever in the ofosu household! :c)

this was connor when ray first got him..
but he quickly settled in

momma with baby, sweet moments

tour de home

as requested by some of my family.. here's a short tour of our new home :c)

this is the living room as seen from the front door.

here's the kitchen and dining room that opens up the the living room.

this is our master bedroom (with honey modeling on 'her' couch :c)

and the master bath and closet (which are both very spacisous!)

here's the office right off the front door (which as soon as i can get my mom in town, i hope to be repainting!)

and the exterior (it was a beautiful outside today!)~

we also have 2 other bedrooms and a guest bath, but they are pretty much empty..

we are truly enjoying the house and feel very blessed to be here :c)

eat mor tirky - says the cow

i got it!

the picture i was missing last time.. of ray in his glasses and gloves with that big bird (don't worry, it wasn't the 6 foot tall and yellow kind). here he is, workin' the deep fryer.

and here's the masterpiece.. totally worth the glasses! this round turned out better than our first (we fried a turkey on sunday just for the heck of it). i'm officially a fried turkey fan, and if you know me and my fear of fats (but all the sugar and carbs i can eat are good for me, right?), then you know that's a big statement.. it's good!

and here's my hubby hero again, wrestling with our real christmas tree.. yet another dream come true (this time because a real tree was a tradition growing up in my family)

and last but not least, my fierce dog, ready to attack this foreign object that has invaded our house!

get it honey!

football, football, and more football..

does anyone else hear me? it's football season, in full swing.

when i married ray, i knew that he loved football, i think i was just blindded by love as to what extent he loves football. with the season in full swing these last couple weeks, even i've got football fever!

my friend, matt, is a coaching for his 3rd year at bishop mcguiness, the state champs for the last 2 years. i hadn't been able to make any of his games this year except for the last few, which were all playoff games. it's been exciting high school football, with mcguiness barley squeaking by each time. this weekend was the state championship, so of course we were there to cheer them on! the best part, it was nice enough weather for me to pull out my camera (i'm a wimp in the cold). the worst part, we lost. but they played a good team and i'm proud those boys!

a patriotic shot

our qb

here we stripped the ball, but not before the forward progress call :c(
a hand off with the crowd cheering on

some defensive tackling
on the run..

it was fun to get some action shots with my stalker lens, hopefully i'll get more chances again next year! go irish!

when you wish upon a star..

here he is. my hunk-of-a-hubby making my dreams come true!

see, ever since i was young, i would beg and beg my parents to put lights up on the house (to no avail). so now, in my 24th year and as a proud owner of a house, i turned to begging husband! and of course because he loves me more than my parents (or because i can punish him easier ;c), he was pleased to make my every dream come true, can't you see it on his face?! but seriously, ray will make all kinds of sacrifices for other people (he even gave up free tickets to the big OU game this weekend so that he can attend one of his good bud's graduation parties.. if you know ray, that's big). so beyond spending his friday off work by killin' his thighs on the roof for me, ray has made my dreams come true by being the kind of husband you 'wish upon a star' for :c)

update

ugh. i feel like i have not had any time to blog what's been going on in my life and it's killin' me! so i'm going to try to play catch up in this one post, then keep you more up date.

first, this should be more possible because school has officially been out for a week now! i'm enjoying the break, but i really did love my students. i wish them the best of luck with boards! here's us celebrating their last clinical..

then a couple weekends ago ray and i took a trip to dallas to watch my little brother play soccer and shop at ikea (guess what my motivating factor was!). now our house feels like a home with a new rug, curtains, and coffee table in the living room!

and thanks to chesapeake! ray and i received 4 tickets to the thunder vs. sonics game. we took my sister and her boyfriend, and had a great time! we were ahead the whole time, until the pulled ahead by 1 at the very end :c( we also deep fried our first turkey last week (and survived)! ray in his gloves and goggles would of made a great pic, but i was stuck in the kitchen try to save a 'nothing's going right' dinner.. but i thought this pic was entertaining~ PHOTOGRAPH BY RENEE KNOEBER/DULUTH NEWS-TRIBUNE

then on sunday i experienced on of the most glorious days. we were in sand springs with my step dad and i did nothing but read and watch football. no cooking, cleaning, unpacking, editing, grading, etc. and the book i started was written by neighbor of my step dad's, and it's really good. i'm almost done already, you should check it out!and last but not least, here's honey. every time i think she's getting better, she goes and does something silly :c) it's cause she still has those puppy eyes!
i hope you all enjoyed a happy thanksgiving weekend!