Thomas and Crystal

2010-12-09T14:54:00.014-07:00

Merry Christmas, Everyone!!!

What an amazing year 2010 has been for The Shields...new job, new baby...you know, nothing big. Ha Ha!! As we look back at this year, it has been full of adventure and a lot of new beginnings. Thomas was finally hired on as a full time mechanical engineer at Denso Manufacturing. It was a long, hard journey in finding a job in this type of economy, but FINALLY, it happened. Praise the Lord! It was a time of learning patience and trusting in God's plan for our lives. We are so thankful that I can now be a stay-at-home mom...what a dream come true for us.

Shepherd is now 8 months old and such a blessing to us. He is so precious. We love watching him "discover" all the little things. Who would have thought that clothing zippers could be so fun to play with and that pureed green beans were oh so good!!

I have found a passion for educating women about pregnancy and childbirth. I am working on my certification to teach Bradley natural childbirth classes and hope to start teaching sometime next year. So needless to say, along with studying for my certification, church, and taking care of Shepherd, I keep my plate full.

We hope everyone is well and we wish you a Merry Christmas...

Isaiah 9:6

"For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

2010-08-03T14:00:00.019-06:00

Shepherd...He's killing me with his cuteness!!!!

After 4 months of maternity leave, it was back to work (thankfully, only part-time). Children truly are a blessing from the Lord. Shepherd has brought so much joy to our lives. It's amazing the amount of love you can have for someone you haven't even known that long. Shepherd is growing and growing too fast!!! He looks like a completely different baby since he was born. Most of his hair has thinned out, except for the back of coarse. Business in the front, party in the back..yep...Mullet style!!! His smiles and laughs have us in stitches and him and Thomas are working on developing a book of father/son dangerous tricks. Really....they're giving me a heart attack already! Thanks to wisdom from seasoned moms, he's sleeping through the night and is a napping champion. It seems like I get more sleep now than I did before I was pregnant. We are loving where we are right now, and get even more excited about the things to come...giving him food, crawling, walking, playing with things like train,trucks, lincoln logs, and legos!!

I have found that I am very passionate about educating women on pregnancy, labor/delivery, and motherhood ( from what I've learned these 4 1/2 months). I hear so many negative things these days. For example, when you're pregnant, lots of people say, "enjoy this time while you can, because once you have a baby life is hard." Or when you have a newborn, "enjoy this time before they're crawling all over the place and getting into everything." I mean REALLY! Can I get one positive thing about having kids. I know I'm totally new at this, but so far, it's been amazing. Of coarse, it's challenging in the beginning because you're learning your baby and there is some sleep deprivation going on. But, even through all of that, there has been no greater joy!! What an awesome privilege God has entrusted to me and Thomas to raise and train a child (and hopefully children). The Bible says, "

Behold, children are a blessing from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one's youth." Psalm 127:3-4

So what does that mean? Children are a BLESSING not a BURDEN. They are precious gifts. God likens them to arrows. It is our job to sharpen and shape them. Sharpening, whether it be a knife, rock, or whatever, is not easy. You sweat, it's hard work, and sometimes sparks fly!! Yikes!! But the end result is a beautiful, sharp weapon. I have a dear friend who I look up to very much tell me, "if I'm not enjoying my kids, I know I am the one doing something wrong."

I just want to encourage mom's, whether seasoned or new, to be encouraged. Seek advice and wisdom from women you look up to and pick their brains. We need to help and encourage one another.

I few of my favorite "mommy things."

Cloth diapers are awesome...and a great way to save lots of money. But I know what you're thinking..."gross"..it's not gross at all. You just rinse them with a cloth diaper sprayer and put them in your cloth diaper bin. I was extremely intimidated at first but I just eased into it a day at a time and now it's easy as pie. Not to mention..they are way cute!!

Another great tip on saving money..just use baby wash clothes for wipes.

For all of you mom's out there that have summer babies, these sleeveless teas are great. Because, let's face it, summers in Tennessee are horrible..the H is O baby!!

And instead of having to put Desitin or other messy, gooie stuff on your baby, just use a diaper ointment stick. No more getting diaper ointment all over you, your baby and everything else when you're changing them.

If you're interested in making your own baby food, "Super Baby Food" is a great way to learn how to make and store it and when to start what foods. There is a little redundancy in this book, but otherwise is good. "Baby Wise" is great for teaching them to sleep and nap. "The Vaccine Book" informs you what is in each vaccine and the reasoning for those vaccines. Gives an alternate schedule if you want to delay vaccinations or give only one shot at a time. You don't have to take every single thing to heart from these books. I have just found them very helpful as a new mom.

Our First 7 weeks of Parenthood!!!

2010-05-11T14:44:00.017-06:00

I cannot believe 7 weeks have already past. Man, how time flies by. What a whirlwind it has

been. I think I have experienced every emotion ever created the past 7 weeks: frustration,

overwhelming love, extreme exhaustion. Crying for no reason was a pretty common thing in the

beginning as well.

I was totally shocked about how "green" I felt once we brought him home from the hospital.

I mean come on, I'm a pediatric nurse and even worked as a nanny for 2 months with twin infant

girls. "Only having to be up at night with ONE should be easy, right."

I believe the first week I was just living off adrenaline. Once that wore off, I started to feel how

tired my body actually was. NO ONE can prepare you for how tired you are. "How do people do

this. How do people ever have more than one child!!"

I would consider myself a little bit of a "psycho-mom" the first couple of weeks. "Thomas I'm

scared to go to sleep, what if he stops breathing...what if he spits up and chokes...what if..what if.."

I would just cry at the thought of it.

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep."

Psalm 121:1-4

Thank goodness He doesn't sleep so I can. While I sleep, the Lord is still

watching over the precious gift He's given us.

Every little thing he does just fills me with joy...every smile,coo,toot...I love it all. He is such a blessing!! Now I have emerged from the exhaustion fog, I'm feeling good and realizing I can do this...and excited about continuing to grow our family. Not ready to add another in the near future at this point. It's just nice to realize Having multiple kids is possible..Ha Ha!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth."

Psalm 127:3-4

PS:If you are expecting, I would highly recommend reading the book "Baby Wise" toward the end of your pregnancy. I wish I would have done that. I'm reading it right now and it's amazing. It talks about breast feeding, getting your baby to sleep through the night and that the best thing you can give your baby is a healthy marriage.

My best friend Bethany had her baby,Beck, 4 weeks after Shepherd was born. This is the first time they met. They don't know it yet, but they have to be best friends no matter what.

We go them matching onsies that say "best buddies"

The nursery..it's the most peaceful room in the world!!

Our little Shepherd is here!!!

2010-04-03T16:53:00.009-06:00

Hello Everyone,

Shepherd Thomas Shields surprised us by comeing 9 days before his due date on March 27 at 8:19am Saturday morning weighing 6lbs 9oz and 19 3/4 in long. He was due on my birthday, April 5th, so I guess he just didn't want to share his birthday!!

I've had a lot of people ask about my labor experience since most people knew I really wanted to go "natural" with no medication. So I thought I would share the craziest thing my body has every gone through!! (Boys....if you're uncomfortable with words like "dilate,effaced,...you may not want to read.)

I just want to start with by saying, I had a great pregnancy. Other than having morning sickness the first trimester, everything went pretty normal. I went through about 3 bottles of tums, 1 bottle of mylanta (nastiest tasting medication in the world), and like a million bottles of zantac battling the nasty heartburn I had. But that can be explained by the head full of hair my little one has!!! I worked the entire pregnancy and found myself loving to swim every chance I got.

So....The day I went into labor was actually a great day. I went swimming that morning, ate lunch at my favorite coffee shop, finished up at 10 week Bible study with a friend, and was finally able to get my pedicure. For some reason, I had it set in my mind that I HAD to get a pedicure and have pretty feet before I had a baby!!! That night (Friday night) I was joking with Thomas that he was lucky that I didn't have any weird food cravings and that I never made him get up in the middle of the night for a grocery run for ice cream and pickles. However, I told Thomas, "I'm really craving a chocolate milkshake from Baskin Robins, I have to have one now!" So we set out to fulfill the only food I just "had to have" during the entire pregnancy. As soon as we ordered, I noticed that I "just wasn't feeling right". I was having some of the practice contractions I had been having for weeks, but these were hurting just a little bit. We got home, I drank about 4 sips of that milkshake and had to put down because my contractions were not going away like they normally would after a few minutes. I went to lay down in bed to see if that would help and after about 30 minutes they still weren't going away. They weren't really hurting, it was just more frustrating than anything that I couldn't get them to stop like I normally could.

My husband, being the wonderful labor coach that he was, suggested that I take a hot shower. Brilliant!!! That always made them stop before. So I took my hot shower, brushed my teeth, and laid back in bed. All of a sudden, I'm having to breath through the contractions and they were starting to take my breath away. I got up to walk for a second and next think I knew, I was laying on the floor during the contractions screaming, "Thomas help me, I can't do this, make it stop!!!" Every contraction at that point put me on the floor screaming!!! I remember thinking, "What happen to just easing into labor!!."

After about an hour of intense back to back contractions, I told Thomas to call our Doula, Tamisha, to start making her way to our house. Thomas apparently wasn't convinced I was in labor for some reason, "I don't want to call her unless we're sure you're in labor, it's 12:30am, I don't want to wake her." Are you kidding me!! Let's see, yelling for almost 2 hours now during contractions...how could he not think I'm in labor?? "Thomas, this baby is coming," I told him. I think he needed to hear those words for some reason. He called Tamisha and she told me to get in the tub until she got there.

I had heard by women who had had natural births that being in hot water was the best thing and you don't want to get out....so true!!! Everything still hurt but I was able to relax a little better. My doula finally got to our house around 1pm. What a relief. So pretty much for the next 4 hours Thomas and Tamisha made me walk and get in a lot of different positions to keep things moving. They let me get back in the tub and it was at that point that I felt that whole"pressure" thing. This may be T.M.I., but I felt a bowling ball was trying to make its way out of my bottom!!! The contractions weren't the worst of it but the pressure. I had that feeling for a couple of hours, then I told them " I feel like this baby is going to come out every time I have a contraction." Tamisha finally mentioned that we may need to start heading to the hospital. " I'm not going," I stated. At that point, Thomas who was just as exhausted as I was said, " You don't NEED to go to the hospital or you just don't WANT to go." I told him, " I don't want to go, I'll just have him here at home." As quickly as I said that, Thomas was up and loading up the car. I begged them to not make me go.

The ride to the hospital was just as bad as I dreamed it would be. I felt every pot hole on Chapman Hwy. It seemed like an eternity before we got to the hospital. They wheeled me up and put me in the triage room. The nurse checked me and said I was 9cm dilated and his head was right there. I had an out loud praise party when I heard the number 9!!! "Thank you Jesus, Praise the Lord!!!" Next thing I knew, they rolled me into the "ready room" (the room they keep reserved for women who come in and the baby is ready to come out). It was shift change at this point and my 2 favorite doctors where there. The doctor offered to break my water and said I could start pushing once he broke it..."Break it please, I'm ready to push!" He broke my water, and I sat up and started pushing. Fifteen or so minutes later, there he came. Just to add, once he broke my water, I felt no pain, not even when I was pushing. I did feel that "ring of fire" sensation right when his head came out but other than that...no pain.

9 hours of labor...and here he was...so perfect...with a head full of hair. I fell in love instantly with Shepherd and fell in love with my husband all over again. Look at our precious gift from God!!

I was extremely scared about natural child birth, but I had a friend tell me to relate it to what Christ endured while he was on the Cross. Jesus suffered and felt pain to give life. So I knew I was going to have to endure pain to give life. The Bible says that when Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem he "set His face like flint" b/c He knew He was going to suffer. "It was for the joy set before Him." So I knew I was going to have to set my face like flint and endure the pain, but there was going to be so much joy at the end....and there was,Shepherd Thomas.

looking rough..I know...I did labor all through the night!!!

Trip to Memphis (Griswold's Style)

2008-10-21T14:39:00.005-06:00

A few weekends ago we had the privilege to go to Memphis for our friend Sally's wedding. Unfortunately for us the trip there was a be a bit more difficult than we had first anticipated.

So when looking for airplane tickets we notice that it was much more expensive to fly to Memphis than it was to Nashville. We have family in Nashville so of course we would just fly into Nashville and then drive to Memphis. It was the perfect plan...or so we thought.
We arrive to Nashville late because of a delayed flight, but we were undeterred. Crystal's mom picked us up at the airport and on we go. They were nice enough to let us borrow Brittney's (Crystal's sister) old Honda Accord for the trip to Memphis. So we hit the road on time!
What I am about to admit next will make me look foolish, but I am man enough and humble enough to admit these things in hopes that I can somehow inspire those around me. In planning our route to Memphis I confidently suggest taking I-840 to BYPASS the Nashville traffic. This plan is of course based on my understanding of the definition of BYPASS and assuming that it in fact BYPASSED Nashville, but kept you on track with eventually coming back to I-40. Had I checked the TDOT website and would have found that the final phase of construction for Interstate 840 isn't scheduled to start until 2009. So now I know that when planning a travel route, you should always make sure the interstate you would like to take is finished!
So we make it back to I-40 and we are very late because someone forgot to check to see if the "interstates were connected". It took an hour and a half to get past Nashville, which is normally a 30 min. trip. Not much we can do but drive on and with Crystal at the wheel I felt confident we would make up some ground, so I decided to take a nap. Not my fault, thats just what I do when I am in a car and not driving.
Next thing I know Crystal wakes me up saying that the car was smoking. In a fogging daze I think to myself where am I and what's going on. Once I wake up enough to see the smoke for myself we decide to go ahead and pull over. I pop the hood and I am quickly surrounded by a thick cloud of white smoke. I do my best to look around and see transmission fluid all over the engine and transmission. That can't be good.
So we decide to try and make it to the nearest gas station. Just to let you know, we are still 100 miles from Memphis!! Once we get to the gas station, we popped the hood and 2 guys in a service truck were parked next to us and asked us if we needed help...."uh, ya think I thought." So they graciously checked it out, and after attaching things that for some reason were not attached said that it was good to go. We were so thankful that they had fixed our car that Crystal gave them $40.
So on the road we go, we hadn't gone 5 miles before it stopped working!!! "This stinks, not only are broke down again on the interstate, but we're out $40 bucks." We make it to a rest stop, and all we cared about was getting a rental car. We were at the point we were willing to just leave the car on the side of the road...forever!!
Shortly after we pulled into the rest stop we were approached by Jane and Junior. Who at the moment were pulled over so there little poodle mix dog could use the bathroom. Jane and Junior were in there early 60's, newly retired, and driving there new RV. By the way, Jane also had on a fuzzy pink hat.
They kindly offer to drive us to Jackson TN, which at this point is 30 miles away and 80 miles from Memphis. We made some calls, realized that there was on one rental care place in Jackson,TN and that they closed in 30 minutes. Unfortunately, the Hertz front desk lady made it very clear when we called they she "was not waiting a minute past 6:00pm." So we throw all our stuff in J and J's RV, and tell Junior to step on it, we had 30 minutes to get 30 miles.
Crystal and Jane are sitting in the back with there dog, Junior and I are programing the Hertz address into there GPS and trying to navigate.
I'm on the phone pleading with the Hertz lady to wait just 5 minutes past 6, Crystal is in the back having a nervous breakdown, while listening to Jane's story of how she retired 2 weeks after the stock market plummeted and so on and so on. Because if we don't get the car in Jackson, we're stranded in Jackson until the next morning.
We're 5 minutes away, it's 5 till 6. So Crystal decided to give it a go at the Hertz lady. After fake crying and convincing the lady to stay 3 minutes past 6, we tell junior to step on it. I'm pretty sure we were on 2 wheels with each turn we made. I think Junior was an ex race care driver.
Finally,it's 6 past 6 and we have the Hertz place in view. However we also the the Hertz lady pulling out. Junior guns it and almost T-bones the Hertz lady and blocks her in the driveway!!
We jump out of the car, beg her to give a rental car. After she chews us out, she gives us the most expensive car on the lot. Jane and Junior and Crystal all hug in a joyous celebration.
So we make it to Memphis 4 hours late. We check into the hotel just to change clothes for the rehearsal dinner. Crystal realizes that she has left all her shoes in the broke down car in Jackson.
We make it to the rehearsal dinner just as speaking starts.
Anyways, the wedding was great and we had a wonderful time seeing and catching up with old friends.
Last but not least, we over slept a whole hour and barely made to our flight out of Nashville.
We couldn't have done it w/out Jane and Junior. They were our saving grace.
Sally and Corey Cleek.
Thomas, me, Sally, her new husband Corey, Laurie and her husband DW. We were all roommates 3 years ago, single, and waiting on God's timing to bring our husbands. God is so faithful!!!
Jane and Junior's RV....aka the Speed Monster.
What!!!!! Not quiet sure what this means!!!
I made sure to take their pic outside of the Hertz place. Thomas was in getting chewed out by the Hertz lady as we were outside rejoicing about successfully completing our mission.
Sally looked gorgeous!!!

God Bless America, Land that I Love.....

2008-09-15T16:58:00.010-06:00

Well.....Our last and final stop...Washington, D.C.
After almost 2 years of traveling, we have decided that D.C. will be it before we move home and "settle down," whatever that may mean.
We have been here since mid-August and will be here until around the end of November.
What an exciting time to be here during this historical election year.

So, after a rocky start in getting to D.C., we are finally feeling more settled. My traveling nursing company dropped the ball on our housing the day before we were planning to leave. The day we left, we had no housing set-up. We actually almost backed out and didn't go. However, God is faithful, and provided us with an awesome place to stay until we found our own apartment.

Mike and Michelle Thress and there 4 kids, Zachary, McKaleh, Gabrielle, Simeon. They are from Knoxville, and Mike and Michelle actually did our premarriage counseling 3 years ago. Mike had a job opportunity to move to DC for about 2 years. We stayed in their finished basement. It was such a blessing to live with them.

Arlington Cemetery.

National Air and Space Museum.
Washington Monument...our great of a pic is this!!
National Archives.
Me and my sister, Brittany, soaking our feet at a park in DC. We took DC by storm in 3 days.
THE CAPITOL.
Hello Mr. President. I'm on a mission to meet the Pres. I think I'm going to pull it off.
WW II Memorial.
I have always wanted to see the Lincoln Memorial since I was little. Lincoln's my fav. Pres.
Jefferson Memorial

"God who gave us life gave us liberty....these liberties are the gift of God.."
Being here as really made me fall in love with our country. Not to sound cheesy, but Thomas and I are so thankful to have been born in such a blessed nation. People come here from all over the world to see all the sites in D.C. For those you who haven't made it to D.C. yet, put it on your "places to travel" list.

Happy 4th of July!!!

2008-07-04T19:23:00.012-06:00

Hello Loved Ones!!! Thomas and I have offically decided that this assignment has been the quickest one. We feel like we just got here, but we only have less than two weeks left. Work here has been a challenge for both Thomas and I but we have very much enjoyed our time here. Thomas is absolutely obsessed with the weather here. Some of you may not know that Thomas is always...and I mean always..hot. Here, there's a constant breeze and there's no humidity. He's very sad about going back out east where the humidity literally sufficates you. Me, on the other hand, has very much missed the humidity. I may have frizzy hair back home...but bring on the heat.
I think the thing that Thomas and I have truly enjoyed has been our church. We've been going to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Chuck Smith, the pastor, started this church back in the 60's. All it is is line by line, verse by verse teaching. From this church, sprang hundreds of Calvary Chapels around the world. We don't miss a service, because everytime we go we are incredibly blessed.

http://www.calvarychapel.com/

Please check out this site. It has amazing expository teaching that you can download.

We will be making out cross country trip(for the fourth time) in two weeks. Hopefully, we will get to see many of you. We're not sure where our next and final assignment will be. We will definitely keep you posted when we find out. We have a ton of pics on this one,b/c the ones from Yosemite were too hard to choose from.

We took a surfing class.....it was so hard...but still a ton of fun. I don't think I've ever had so many bruises on my body at one time. We are definitely going give this another try before we leave. Also, Thomas and I normally go to bed around 11pm, we were in the bed at 8:30 the day we surfed. We've never been so tired!!
We went camping in Yosemite for 2 days. Yosemite is literally breath-taking. This is Half-Dome.

"Soaking up God's creation"
Half-Dome and Yosemite Falls.

Thomas and I did a long hike called Nevada Falls. It's a long hike that takes you past 2 huge falls. It was the most beautiful hike I've ever done!!
Resting at the top..look at that view.

This is the first fall that you pass on the way up "Mist Trail". You get soaked as your walking by.

This squirrel really wanted some of Thomas' almonds.

We spent a night camping in the Santa Cantalina Islands, which made for some interesting hair. Its about 45 miles off the coast of Long Beach. It's like your in another country. It was so beautiful!!!

Wet suits....not so flattering....we went snorkeling, the water was so cold that my hands went completely numb. But of course,we still had fun.
Sorry, a little out of order...El Capitan is on the left.
The massive El Capitan!!! It takes around a week to climb the face of it.
Check out our sweet ride we had in Cantilina...we almost wrecked a few times. Once we almost crashed when a tour bus drove by...yeap..they stopped and asked if we were O.K. Embarrassing.
Thomas making his right turn signal on our tandem bike.

2008-06-10T18:23:00.013-06:00

Hello All!!! Thomas and I are having a great time in Cali. What we've loved the most about Long Beach is that it's a great location for traveling to tons of other places in CA. We've gone to Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach, San Fran, Malibu.....it's so fun. However, do not be deceived, the water here is freezing!!! We're used to the luke warm water of Florida. I can't even stand to stick my pinky toe in the water. We miss everyone and hope all is well.

Long Beach is a big kite surfing beach. This people literally fly on top of the water. I really want to try it, but my luck, I'd get pulled out to Japan.

Hanging out at Malibu pier.

Thomas' sister Angela came to visit us. We were able to go to an improv show called the Groundlings. A lot of the actors end up on SNL. It was histerical!!!
Laguna Beach is definitely our favorite beach. The water is so blue and there are cliffs everywhere.
I love how my husband lays out.

Thomas and I took a road trip to San Francisco at the very last minute. It was probably one of the best trips we've ever had. This is the best burger place in the world!!! We had amazing food, went hiking, went to Napa Valley, walked the city, and had a free place to stay in the middle of down town San Fran (thanks Greg & Andy).
Thomas and I have a new obsession with Gelato!!! Ice cream....never heard of it.
My favorite bagel shop in San Fran. We went there every morning we were there.
Visiting the Muir Woods in San Fran.
When I lived in San Fran as a nanny. This was my favorite place to eat called Oggi's Cafe. It has the best veggies in the world. This was actually the only place I wanted to go while we were in San Fran. I could have just eaten there and drove back to Long Beach.
The view from Coit Tower in San Fran.
I love this city!!!

Thomas and I took the drive down Lombard. The famous crazy curvy street.

Napa Valley is one of the most beautiful places I've every seen. We went to a couple of winery's there and had a picnic lunch.

Tennesse Valley hike.

Crystal Cove National Park.
Lazy days on the beach.....oh, the life.

Check out the surfers.
Gelato.....imagine that. We want to open our own gelato store in Tennessee.
Hollywood Sign

We did the infamous hike to the Hollywood sign. It was hot!!!

Oh, sweet L.A. The beautiful smog!!!

Til next time!

Next stop....Long Beach California.

2008-05-09T21:29:00.008-06:00

We landed in Long Beach CA April 19th and we will be here until the end of July. This is a new experience for both Thomas and I. We had no idea what to expect in coming to southern Cali. The one thing that got me on board was one word.....beaches!!! I felt I was long overdue for some fun in the sun. We've both been white as a ghost for way too long.

This area is just a few miles from our apartment. It's a great area to bike and run that's right along the water.

The Queen Mary!!!

Our first excursion was to Joshua Tree National Park. We absolutely love to camp!! We actually saw a real oasis....it looks just like it does in the cartoons, except the water's murky!!!

This a a Joshua Tree. Kind of ugly, but pretty at the same time. It's a mix between a fury tree and a cactus with plants on the ends.
There were lizards all over the place. Every time one ran across the trail I thought it was a rattle snake and thought I was going to have to get Thomas to suck poison out of my leg.

We hope everyone is well. Please keep us updated on life!!

Salt Lake City, Utah

2008-03-17T20:31:00.011-06:00

Hello all, hope everyone is well. We are so sorry that we haven't updated everyone as much as we should. Please forgive us. Please know that we miss you and can't wait to make it back home to visit. We've been in Utah now since the last week of December and we'll be finishing up April 5th,my birthday!!! We'll be heading back to Tennessee until my next assignment. As of today, we don't know where we'll be. We are having such a great time doing this and can't believe this is our life. Thanks to all of you for being so supportive.
If I could sum up Salt Lake in one word it would have to be, relaxing. All we seem to do is work and snowboard. It felt like it snowed everyday the first 2 months we were here. And we just got dumped on again this past weekend. I've never seen so much snow my entire life. It was just 2 weeks ago that I saw the grass in front of our apartment. It's been wonderful being here, but the Gypsy feet are kicking in and we're ready for the next adventure.

Check out my husband's sweet moves....hotty!!! He's way better than me.

We love our friends coming to visit. We give everyone permission to use our house as a free place to stay. It's always to good to have familiar faces around.

I went to Las Vegas with my sister and her 2 friends from school. It was quick,fun trip and warm most of the time. Thanks Brit for the invite.

All I wanted to do there was ride the rollercoasters at the top of the Stratesphere. However, once we did the first one, I had a mild heart attack, so we gave our tickets away. Just to let you know how bad it was, I've jumped out of an airplane twice and didn't think it was scary. It was seriously the scariest ride I've ever been on.
This is Addison, aka Addie, my friend Ashley's baby. She is seriously super cute and such a sweet baby. It was a new experience seeing one of my best friends as a mom. She's just 3 weeks in this pics and already smiling. Thanks Ash for letting me come and spend time with you and Addie.

How Cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello To All!!!!

2008-01-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...Thomas and I are the worst at updating our blog. So sorry. Well, I finished up my assignment in Manhattan Dec. 16th and made way back to Tennessee to make our rounds. We didn't have much time home this time,so needless to say it flew by. A few days in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Lebanon then it was back in the car to drive cross country for the "third" time. We made it to Salt Lake City,UT after 3 days on the road. We were here this time last year for the snowboarding season, so we were excited to get back.
Once we got here we slowly adjusted to the altitude...no joke. All we wanted to do was sleep the first week. At 4:oopm we were seriously wanting to go to bed. It took all we had just to make it til 8:00pm. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to "shred" yet b/c off all things to leave in Lebanon, we left some of our snowboarding gear. Although we don't have any Utah pics yet, we have plenty left from NY that we haven't posted yet.

My friend Lindsay and I watching the football game with fellow UT football fans in Manhattan back in September. As soon as I walked into this place I thought I was back in Knoxville. UT football fans in NYC....what!!!! My friend Lindsay is on staff with Campus Crusade in the city and she was such a blessing to have in the city. We were roommates in school, so to be in the same city again was a total blast.
The Brooklyn Bridge at sunset.

There was a Halloween parade and this guys were dressed up as Ghostbusters. Everytime they said " Who ya gonna call" in there thick Brooklyn accent, I almost lost it laughing so hard.
Watching the balloons being blown up the day before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, right by our apartment.

We had a great view of the parade. Right across the street of Macy's. Pretty sweet gig uhh!!!
Lacing up for ice skating in Central Park. My best friend Bethany and her husband Aaron came up to visit the week before we left NYC. Ice skating in New York was so much fun. Thomas and I think we missed our calling as figure skaters. We were pretty much doing 360's as soon as we hit the ice!!!

The tree at Rockefeller Center.

Wasting time on the Staten Island Ferry.
NYC's first snow from the top of our apartment.
Thanksgiving dinner at our friend, Caroline's, apartment. It was home away from home and Thanksgiving.

Good laughs at Thanksgiving dinner.

Thomas the tourist at the Statue of Liberty.
We got to go up to the top pedestal at the Statue of Liberty. I must say, my heart broke when I found out I couldn't go up to the crown.
The last pic is my favorite coffee shop in NYC. They knew my order when I walked in the door. Single shot extra chocolate large iced mocha....ummm. If I was a millionaire I would seriously fly there just to get a mocha from there.

2007-09-26T18:10:00.000-06:00

Long time, no blog......So sorry it's been so long since we've sent out an update.
Thomas and I have now been here for a little over 2 months and it's been interesting to say the least. We've been so busy here, or maybe it's just the new york city mindset that we just always "feel' busy." I put a ton of pics so enjoy!!!

O.K...so Thomas and I went biking through Central Park one day and stumbled upon a "roller-skating disco block party" I seriously was the biggest tourist, I just stood there for 30 minutes and took pictures. The video above is absolutely histerical. This guy is like Mr.trying-to-be-cool-and-show-off-my-dance-moves-guy, and the next thing you know he almost falls and tries to play it off.

The view from biking through Central Park.

This was one of my favorite places to go to walk or read. It's the Hudson River,right across is New Jersey.

For Thomas' b-day in September we went to this restaurant that's on the top floor of a building and revolves. The view of the city is wonderful. We ended up getting the dessert bar...we both had a sugar crash on the way home.

I love this building. Everytime we pass it I take a picture. It has all this beautiful sculpting. It reminds of of buildings in Europe.
FAO Schwartz Toy Store.Ummm...I feel like a kid everytime I walk in this store. I seriously want to by the entire line of barbies!!!

You're probably wondering why in the world we're holding up the number 2. Well, we're standing out in front of the theater where "Wicked" the musical is performed. It's the number 1 broadway show right now so the cheapest tickets are $120. Obviously we can't afford that so every night before a show they have what's called a lottery. What you do is line up and sign your name on a card and they draw 13 names. Normally there are between 200-300 people there. So this picture was taken the time we won tickets a second time. WE have now won tickets 4 times in a row. This is seriously impossible!!! Every time one of our friends is in town we all go to try to win tickets. So far all of our friends have been able to see the shoe front row center for $26. Thank you Jesus!!! This show is amazing, if you're ever in NYC go to the lotto and try and win tickets.

This is the apple store here. You go inside this glass building and walk underground to see all the apple stuff. How cools is this building!!!
This is down in Battery Park. This sculpture is actually debris from the World Trade Center buildings.Thomas and I went to Hoboken which is a quick subway ride to New Jersey with a great view of Manhattan. We were walking around and almost passed out when we saw a Panera...why must you ask. Well, there are hardly any chains in the city, its really expensive to eat out, and there are no free refills on drinks. So Panera was familiar cheap and had free refills!!!!! Thomas had like 12 diet Pepsi's.

Thomas and I also went to ground zero on 9/11, went to "Top of the Rock (the top of the Rockefeller center,which has a better view than the Empire state building) and found some amazing places to eat.
One of my best friends Lindsay lives here and is staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. So it's been so much fun hanging out with her. It's such a blessing to have a friend on one of our travel assignments. Thomas and I are here until the middle of Dec then it's back home for 2 weeks and then we're back to Salt Lake City to snow board again for the winter!!!! We miss everyone and can't wait to see you. Love and Blessings Thomas and Crystal

Finally...New York

2007-08-24T12:37:00.000-06:00

Well, it has taken longer than we originally anticipated, but we have finally made it to New York. We learned a lot during this "In-Between", but we are definitely ready to get back to semi-normal life.

Today we moved into our new studio apartment on West 80th Street, which is a couple of blocks from Central Park. The apartment is the Swiss Army knife of the apartment world. You get everything you would find in a normal apartment...all in one room. It is impressive if nothing else.
Here are some pictures of the new pad.

Come and visit if you get the chance.

Love,
Thomas and Crystal

National Parkin' It

2007-06-27T15:34:00.000-06:00

We just got back from an exciting few days camping and hiking throughout the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. We had a blast and saw some amazing things.

The first two nights were spent in the Grand Tetons National Park. The first night it was made clear to me that Crystal was not playing around when came to the threat of bears. No precaution was overlooked. And to her credit, we didn't get attacked by any bears. We did however see a few. Our first full day there we did a ten mile hike that took us 3000 feet up to some mountain top lakes. It was a tough hike, but it was all made worth it once we reached to top. The lakes were beautiful and we even saw a young cub on our way down.

Surprise lake was the first of the two lakes at the top.

About 4 tenths of a mile up was Amphitheater Lake.

Unfortunately our cameras zoom ends about here, so getting a better shot would have required getting closer to the bear and just couldn't put Crystal through that.

The next day we took a little easier because of the effects of the day before and went and saw the hidden falls next to South Jenny Lake.

That night we camped in Yellowstone and spent the next day seeing all the sights there.
We of course saw Old Faithful, but my personal favorite had to be the hot springs. The colors of the hot springs were incredible.

Today we went to Mount Evans which is one of the many 14er's found in the Rocky Mountains. I would like to say we got up early and spent all day hiking steep trails, but that was just not the case. We drove all but the last quarter mile or so. The views were great, but it was hard feeling like we had earned it.

Wednesday we are making the trip back to Tennessee and we are a little sad to leave Denver. We have had a blast here and we hope to make it back one day.

Thomas and Crystal's Denver Update

2007-06-20T11:34:00.000-06:00

Life is coming to a close here in Denver. We have had so much fun here. Since we have only had one car, I've grown to love biking everywhere and take the bus. We'll be back home to Tennessee the beginning of July until early August, then it's to ummmmm.....not quiet sure yet. We miss everyone and are so excited to visit with everyone. We love you. Enjoy the blog.

The Denver Zoo. O.k I know this is really dorky to put all this pictures up of animals. But It was so fun to see all these animals God made. We felt like we were little kids again at the zoo.

Well, Hello Mr. Lion, easy there are kids here!!!

This is a turtle. And it's huge. I don't think I want to swim in a lake again.
There was this huge building full of snakes, I didn't even like going up to the glass.
We can always make time for ice cream.
This poor little girl had no idea she was flashing everyone. How cute!!
Has anyone ever seen and animal that looks like a zebra/deer/horse...didn't think so.
I love wort hogs,there adroable.

As if I wasn't already afraid of grizzly bears, this bears actually paced around eyeing everyone. You could totally tell they wanted to eat you. I'm investing in bear mace for hiking now.
Ever seen a hug bird like this...didn't think so.
Our break from Denver and trip to Desting Florida.
We were more excited about seafood than anything.

I think my dad is the darkest white person in the world. Sorry girls, he's married!!!
View of our beach house,it's the closest house to the beach in Seagrove. We love it.

My stepsister's daughter Eliza. Oh, the days when napping was a daily activity.
Thomas is going to kill me, but seriously, what a hottie!!!
I love him!!!!
Denver Botanical Gardens. It was gorgeous!!!!

These are my favorite.

Our time so far in Denver.....

2007-05-17T17:39:00.000-06:00

Hello Everyone,
We are so very sorry it's been so long since we've updated our blog. We have been so busy with work and livin' it up in Denver. Thomas is working for Sears as a sub-contractor remodeling kitchens. We have been very thankful that he gets to work a job a week which keeps him busy. We were able to go snowboarding 2 times when we got here. We went to Copper Mountain and Winterpark which is gorgeous. I must say we got pretty good at shredding this winter.

Since we only have one car, I've become quiet the cycler. Someone let me borrow a bike to I bike everywhere and I love it. Thomas a I biked to downtown Denver,which is only a 15 min bike ride and spent the day walking around.

Even in the city, everywhere you look you can see snow capped mountains.

We finally made it to Rocky Mountain National Park. WOW!!!! Totally breathtaking. It was 70 degrees but there was still 3 feet of snow on the mountains. I've never hiked in snow before. So you can only imagine everyone was slipping and sliding all over the place. We learned you just have to "embrace the slide" and let it take you at times. Those that didn't embrace the slide would fall, which was quiet hysterical. We can't wait to get back to the park.

There were times you went through the snow without fair warning.

Check out the snowman we made in the Rockies!!!

Hope you enjoyed the pics. We honestly feel like we're on a long vacation. My job is easy and I can't believe I get paid to live in Denver. We love our church here, Calvary Chapel Castle Rock. It reminds us of CC of Knoxville. WE miss everyone and we will be in Lebanon and Knoxville in mid-July. Stay posted for more blog updates. We are so blessed,God is so good!!! Thomas and Crystal Shields

Visit to Juarez Mexico

2007-03-28T23:06:00.000-06:00

Today we got the chance to visit the mission base that Crystal lived at the summer of 2001 and more importantly, we got a chance to spend sometime with the kids at their after school program. It was an awesome blessing to spend time with them. They treated us to some great food, kicked my butt in soccer, beat Crystal in checkers, and all around made us laugh to no end. It was difficult seeing their surrounding environment, but encouraging to see the Godly people the Lord has put in their lives to minister to them on a daily basis. They didn't stop smiling the whole time and it shows in some of the pictures we got while we were there.

This picture is a great group shot that has something hidden within it that you might not catch at first glance. Check out the picture below it to see what I mean.

Please note the unsuspecting look on my face as I mentally exclaim "Cheese!" just seconds before getting absolutely pelted in the head with a huge balloon. This silent assassin made me realize that you are never truly safe when posing for a group photo. I am forever indebted to him for this harsh, yet effective lesson.

Tomorrow we are heading to White Sands National Monument to do some sand sledding. Should be interesting, so be looking out for some new pictures soon.

Denver or Bust!!!

2007-03-22T11:51:00.000-06:00

As we are leaving the beautiful Grand Canyon National Park, we get word that our next stop will be Denver, Colorado. We have wanted to make it out to Denver ever since we started thinking about doing travel nursing and we are very excited.

We have had a great time checking out some of the national parks the last couple of days. Here are some pictures from our visits to Arches, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks.

Arches National Park

Zion National Park

Grand Canyon National Park

Farewell to SLC

2007-03-16T10:50:00.000-06:00

As we come the end of our first travel assignment we once again face the challenge of finding our next assignment. We have a few leads that we are waiting to hear from that look promising in Colorado, California, and even Alaska. For the time being we are going to check out the rest of Utah as we make our way through some of the national parks. We hope to see Arches and Zion National Parks and then off to the Grand Canyon National Park. It will be fun to do some hiking and camping while we wait for our next assignment.

Here are a few pictures from our exciting time in Salt Lake City. It is beautiful here during the winter and we definitely hope to make it back here sometime soon.

Hope all is well where you are and we look forward to seeing you all soon. When we figure out where we will be next everybody needs to plan a time to come visit.
In Him,
Thomas and Crystal