Time Goes By...

It's official. I'm terrible at this whole blogging thing. I've even cut down on my blog reading. I guess having a real job that requires you to do things during the day will do that to you. Here are some of the biggies that have happened since I last recapped...

• Mallory & Chip got married! After spending an entire day setting up for an outdoor wedding, we wound up taking it all down and setting it back up (20 miles away) in half the time due to rain. She still had one of the prettiest weddings I've ever seen...and she was gorgeous!
• I got glasses. I officially feel old. They're really cute though and have an adorable hot pink case (of course) and only have to wear them at the computer and while I read.
• I took an amazing vacation as the Kerbys' nanny to St. George Island, FL. It was a lot of fun to get to spend a week with my 2 favorite boys (and then some!). I tried lots of new food and William got to touch a shark, so the trip was a success. :)
• I got to spend a nice, long weekend at home on the 4th and got to catch up with a very good friend that I don't see nearly often enough.
• CP had the second Serving Saturday of the year. We volunteered one morning to help work on some people's houses in the CP neighborhood. Our team did a bunch of landscaping, painted parts of the house, completely took out the back porch & installed a new one... it didn't even look like the same house when the day was over.
• Linds and I joined the Y! I never in a million years would have seen me actually making use of a gym membership (aside from using the pool...), much less loving it. But I do! We go pretty regularly 3-4 times a week. Nothing too strenuous, but I can feel a difference in myself just by feeling healthy.
• We went on our annual boat trip to Florence, AL this past weekend. I didn't get to go last year, and was very happy to make it this year. We had a wonderful time!
• I just had my 25th birthday this week. It feels weird to even think I can be "mid-twenties" at all, but other than that it was no biggie. All of my "others" and their kids came out to celebrate at the park with pizza, cornhole and cake the night of my birthday, and I had lunch with some work-friends the next day. It was lots of fun! I got some really great, timeless gifts that I'm bound and determined to do a separate post on...so maybe in the next few months it'll be up. :)

Easter time!

I spent my first holiday on my on this Easter. It was pretty strange to even think about at first, but I was scheduled to sing in KidStuff, and I really wanted to attend Cross Point's Easter service. It was really a great day and weekend...now I just need to get my family to come to me next time! :)

On Good Friday, after all the storms finally passed, Linds and I headed to Murfreesboro because Will & Beth were going to be in town for the weekend. We got to spend some time with them and precious baby Maddie and watched a bunch of the storm coverage. We found out that our old roommate's parents' house is totally gone,  Lindsey's old house had a lot of damage, and another good friend of hers is completely out of his apartment. It's such a scary and devastating thing...On our way home the next day we instinctively got back on the road the way we normally do, only to be totally re-routed because of all the damage.

On a brighter note..It was great to see little Maddie and love on her! She's already changed so much! Saturday morning we dyed Easter eggs and Maddie chipped in. :) I had the Disney Princess kit (of course I did) and it came with princess bracelets...so we put them on Maddie as a crown!

Sunday, after an amazing Easter service at church, Linds and I headed home and gave the puppies their Easter baskets. We had taken them to PetSmart a few weeks before and let them "pick out" their new prizes, and while we were there of course we had to put the bunny ears on Rocket (Paisley would have none of it!)! It's so much fun to spoil them! :)

This picture cracks me up because Paisley looks so vicious as she was trying to get her new toy! 

This Christmas...

Ok ok, I swear this is the last Christmas post now that I'm nearing February. I'll explain why I'm taking so long later. :)

Here is a briefing of my Christmas Day. I love Christmas Day the most of all because it's spent with our close family, we rarely get out of pajamas & we just generally enjoy one another's company!

This is pretty much the view of every Christmas morning...our sunroom filled with stacks of gifts with pretty bows (thanks to Mom:)), Mom video taping Reed & I opening our gifts. Reed got his very first camera!

...And both Rock Bands, which he played for hours on end the rest of the day!

I got an adorable laptop bag & a new book...by Kate Gosslin from Jon & Kate Plus 8! My favorite!!

I gave my mom a book with pictures of the four of us (plus pets!). It was a lot of fun to make, and she was very surprised!

Dad's wish list: all things Harley. And that's exactly what he got. :)

Paisley even got a stocking full of treats and new toys and a new collar!

Lucy & Dash both got new toys in their stockings too, but they all just wanted to play with the same one all morning.

Dash in his "Naughty" Christmas shirt! :)

Gran, Kay & George came over as usual for Christmas brunch, hanging out, and testing out the new game. My favorite part of the day!

Christmas Eve in My Hometown...

I'm so behind, I know...everyone else is blogging about New Year's resolutions and how they've already given up (kidding) and I'm still stuck on Christmas...

So here quickly is my Christmas Eve in pictures. Mostly of family and the youngest members (both 3). They're so stinkin' cute!

The evening starts out with our family going to my old church for the Christmas Eve service. It's great to be there and see everyone (including my darling Caley!), but I'm hoping to try to make it for Cross Point's earliest Christmas Eve service next year!

Then we head to my grandmother's house for dinner and presents! Here is my cousin's youngest, Trent, holding his BIG present!

It's been a tradition for some of the kids to 'sort' all the presents as they come in. It was my job for the longest, but now it's been handed down to Reed. :)

My cousin, Jason, and his youngest, Carter. He's the very youngest of the family...

...but not by much! Cole is only 2 months older than him. They were SO fun to watch open their presents and play with their new toys. 3 is a great age to enjoy the magic of Christmas. Cole and Carter were jumping off the steps into the sunroom at the same time. I love this picture!

Carter's older brother, Collin, was excited to get a new Nerf gun!

Reedman...he's the oldest of the "little ones" (not that he's little, by any means!), and the youngest of the "big kids!"

My cute Mommy and Daddy :)

I was SO excited about my awesome new Paul Mitchell straightener from Kay & George!

Trent's older sister, Megan, started reading her new book right away. She's such a good reader!

My cousin, Brian & I.

All of the great-grand children (minus Sam) with my grandmother. Trent, Carter, Collin, Megan & Cole.

All the grandchildren (minus Lori): Brian, Jason, Jennifer, Reed & me.

Last but not least, all the children! Glenn, Paula, Kay & Mom.

Are they not too cute??

After we got Gran's house all picked up, we went back home to wait for Santa! :) My stocking is a Raggedy Ann & Raggedy Andy that Kay made for me when I was a baby. I love it!

I got to be Santa Paws for Paisley. :)

Such a pretty girl!

C is for Cookie...

These two things deserved a post all on their own, because they just might top the list of absolute favorite things to do during the Christmas season! The first is a new one (sort of), that is sure to become a roomie tradition from now on. Lindsey and I made cute Christmas cookies the night before I left to go home, and we had so much fun!

It's a thousand wonders we didn't just eat all the cookie dough! :)

They got much bigger than expected!

Rocket wanted to help Linds with the icing...they sure did smell good!

All of Lindsey's cookies...my favorite with the tree decorated to look like a present, complete with the big, pretty bow!

And now mine! The one that's a Santa Claus was actually a snowman cookie, but they blew up so much that it made the perfect Santa instead!

Yummmm!!!

Now my absolute favorite part...getting to hang out with family and friends and play games! This is from my favorite party at the Henrys' and we're all playing Apples to Apples...I won! :)

It's a tradition to get a new game for Christmas, and then when Kay & George come over on Christmas morning, we get to test it out. This year...Partini. It was fun, but pretty difficult!

Daddy hates playing games, but likes cards. I love both! Here we are playing Spades...Lindsey and I lost big time, but Daddy and I won the night before! We also love playing Rummy.

On my last night home, we had our last game night, and this time with Reed's girlfriend, Keisha. One of my favorite board games is Cranium, and Lindsey and I pretty much dominate it. :)

A Few of My Favorite Things...

It's been a while since I've been around, and of course I have 1001 pictures, but I'm going to try to keep it short and simple (which, of course, probably means 2 or 3 posts. ha.). I'm a big fan of Christmas and enjoy all aspects of it! Here are a few pictures of my favorite things that lead up to the big day!

When Lindsey finally got back from Mexico, we went to see Point of Grace in Brentwood for their Christmas concert. I love Christmas music, and their "Christmas Story" album is one of my favorites to listen to this time of year!

I also love getting to decorate everything for winter (more snowmen so it can stay out for a few months instead of a few weeks) and Christmas! I also love shopping the day after Christmas to get good deals on new decorations for the next year! Lindsey puts the lights up outside and we added garland around the door this year. All my pictures have our house number on them, and I feel slightly paranoid about putting that on here...but rest assured she did a fabulous job! :)

Speaking of Christmas lights, I love getting to look at those too! A few sweet friends told me all about Sunnyside and I will not be missing out again! There were more lights in the neighborhood than I've ever seen, and the story behind it is far too sweet.

I love love love getting to relax over the Christmas break too! So here's what I've spent a great deal of time on...getting addicted (slightly later than everyone else) to the Twilight books!

And of course I can't forget about the Christmas parties! This picture is from my very favorite party that we have each year. All the "lake crew" friends get together and have dinner and of course we always wind up playing Apples to Apples!