Happy New Year!

Well Garet and I rang in the New Year last night... sick.
I have been trying to ward off this cold since last weekend... but it took over. Yesterday morning Garet woke up feeling it too. It was still nice, at least we were together :) We had a nice dinner, then came home and watched a movie. Oh, and I have a confession.... we actually celebrated the east coast new year. I just knew I wouldn't make it!

It is amazing how fast 2009 seemed to go! I was going to do a little review of the year, but I'm just not feeling it. Hope everyone had a great New Year's eve! I'm looking forward to what 2010 has to hold for us!

Wedding Shower...

While I was in Charlotte we had a wedding shower for my brother and Kailey. Well first off, on Saturday my mom and I went and got a mani/pedi. It was so much fun! The guy that did mine was hilarious! He picked out red - I usually keep my fingernails neutral, so it was a nice, festive, change :)

On Sunday afternoon, we all gathered at one of my mom's friends houses to have the shower. Here is Kailey with her mom (on the left) and her soon to be mother-in-law (my mom, on the right).
They got lots of nice stuff!! I can remember the showers and how great it was to receive such wonderful gifts (and gift cards!) While she was opening gifts everyone kept asking her how many bows she ripped... she had no idea what we were talking about! Has anyone else heard this - however many ribbons/bows you rip will determine how many children you will have.

It was a great time with the girls, although my brother did make an appearance. He stopped by at the end to help get the gifts in the car.

I am so excited for the wedding!! I know Kailey's counting down the days... I think it's at 18!!!

Christmas 2009...

We had such a great Christmas!! On Monday I met up with Garet in Raleigh. We spent the week with one of his sisters Karen, her daughter Kathryn, and her son Sam. Garet's mom also came down to visit (she left behind about 20 inches of snow!!) (in DC).

Garet and Sam

We met up with another one of Garet's sisters, Merideth, and her family. We went to dinner one night, and the next they came over and we played at the park.

On Christmas Eve we went to a nice service at church. Then we set out cookies, hot chocolate (they were out of milk), and a letter to Santa.

Garet and his mom

On Christmas Day after we got up and opened presents, we got to play! I got a tripod for my camera, so we decided to take some fun shots :)

That night we headed over to Merideth's house for dinner. It was a really nice Christmas!

Garet and Kathryn

The next day we packed up and headed to Charlotte. Suzi stayed with my parents while we were in Raleigh. We celebrated Christmas again with my family that night.

Garet and I have gotten in a routine where we alternate Thanksgiving and Christmas with each side of the family. This year Thanksgiving was my family, Christmas was his. BUT since my brother is joining the Marines and it is possibly the last Christmas all together for awhile we made an exception.

My uncle came over with us and we had dinner and opened gifts. I used my tripod to take a group shot!

We had such a great time! We got stuck in traffic yesterday traveling back, so it took about 2 hours longer to get home... we were so tired! At least this is a short week!!

An outtake and I'm gone...

YAY!!! Tomorrow I am headed to Charlotte!

My co-worker is picking me up in the morning for work, then she is driving me to the airport after work. I hear that there is supposed to be snow and sleet in Charlotte tomorrow night... my plane lands at 9:30! I pray that the weather doesn't interfere!

For our Christmas picture this year we used the one that is at the top of my blog. We probably took no less than 60 pictures! When we take our family pics I set up my camera on a delayed timer and then it takes like 6 in a row... we usually get some pretty funny ones! Here is one of the outtakes
Check out that tongue! She always gets Garet really good! :)

Don't know if I'll be blogging while I'm away... if not hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Home Alone...

Yep, I'm home alone, Garet went out of town...
oh, and he took Suzi with him... He is driving to Charlotte. Dropping off the dog. Spending the night with my parents. Driving to Wilmington, N.C. Meeting up with his dad. Working on our rental house. Spending the weekend with his aunts and grandmother. Driving to Raleigh. Meeting up with me. And spending Christmas with his sisters. OH... and then driving back to Charlotte. Getting the dog. Hanging with my family. Driving back to Huntsville.

Sounds crazy when I actually type it all out :) It really is a good idea though! I am sure I've mentioned our first house on this blog. It's a cute little thing up near the coast of North Carolina. It has been rented by the same lady since we left (over 3 years ago!) It needs some TLC, so G and his dad are going to do manly projects to fix it up.

I am going to fly into Charlotte Friday. I get to spend some fun time with my parents, AND I get to attend a bridal shower for my brother and his fiance! I can't wait! I will meet back up with Garet in Raleigh on Monday. I'm sooo excited!

But in the meantime... I will try to keep myself busy so I'm not sad! It will be weird not having my man or my dog!

Tree...

We've had some pretty bad storms during the beginning of this week. Tuesday night there was a huge storm with some strong winds. So, Wednesday we see this in our backyard:
See that super tall skinny tree that fell?! The only thing holding it up is another super skinny tree! See:

They are supposed to be coming out to cut it down. It's scary that we didn't even hear it, but at least if it did come all the way down it wouldn't have hit our house (or the neighbors!) Hopefully they'll come cut it down tomorrow!

Getting ready for Christmas...

This past weekend, Garet and I started getting our decorations out for Christmas.

Friday night, the news kept saying that it would snow. I really just didn't believe them. But when I let Suzi out for the last time before bed, sure enough we had snow! By Saturday morning we woke up to this:
Not much, but it's snow :)

I ended up going to the gym at around 9 that morning, and by the time I got back it was pretty much all gone! So I'm glad I got at least a few pictures!

So, Garet got all the decorations down from the attic. We don't have too many yet, but we put up what we do have (sorry I didn't get pics of them). I mentioned before that we were debating on a tree... we decided not to get one. Sad, I know. But we really just won't have time to enjoy it. Everything else is out - our stockings, lights on the mantel, our surfing Santa, garland...

We also have this santa and dog thing that my mom got us from Hallmark about 4 years ago that sings. Everytime we play it Suzi starts crying! She hates it! Even if she just sees it, she gets all crazy about it. So this year we pulled it out, and sadly, the batteries are dying. I tried to get a video of Suzi with it... I have never uploaded a video on here, so hopefully it works. She already got the craziness out the first time we played it, but she is still standing guard while it's going

Say cheese...

One of Garet's sisters has twin girls, and their birthday was a few weeks ago. Garet tries to send cards or emails saying Happy Birthday to the nieces and nephews (we have 12!) So... he got some paper and wrote "Happy Birthday Grayson and Piper"... he gave one sheet of paper to me, one to Suzi, and he kept one. I set up the camera to take about 5 shots in a row (surely we would get at least ONE good one?!)

Here is what we got:

Some Charlotte friends...

The last couple days we were in Charlotte we got to meet up with a couple friends! It is so hard to try to catch up with everyone - especially now that people aren't living in the same area anymore! I did get to see one of my very best friends, Marsha!
Marsha and I have known each other since kindergarten! We have literally been through everything together :) Last year Marsha graduated from vet school, got married and moved to Texas to do an internship. Her hubby is a vet too - we had lunch with doctors! It was really nice to catch up with her! She was able to make the flight to Charlotte to see her family too.

Skip, Marsha, me and Garet

Of course Garet got his shot in!

We also got to meet up with one of Garet's friends, Justin and his wife Jessica. Garet met Justin in college - they were in the same fraternity. We actually got someone else to take our picture this time :)

Although it was sad leaving, it helps to know that we'll be back in two more weeks! It seems crazy that Christmas is almost here!

-- speaking of Christmas... I am debating putting up a tree this year... We will literally only have 2 weeks to enjoy it. Does that make me a scrooge??? haha Of course, I will put up all my other decorations. We'll see.

Thanksgiving...

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was so great to see my family! We got together at my aunts house on Thursday evening. Here is me and some of my cousins.
The family

We got a good one...

Then we had some of the dogs join us...

Thanksgiving...

I am thankful for:

- My husband. He is wonderful and I love him more and more each day! He lifts me up and makes me laugh. He is my best friend and I thank God for him everyday!

- My family. I have the BEST family! I miss them so much! They are always there for me, no matter what!

- My dog. Suzi. She has my heart, what can I say! She is my baby.

- Friends. I have some really great friends! I have made new friends in each "stage" of my life, and they are all so very dear to me!

- Sunrises. God makes the most beautiful pictures! I really love waking up and seeing the sunrise. God's creation is truly amazing!

- My church. I feel so blessed that we have found the church we did. I feel like both Garet and I have grown so much since we first started there. God knew what He was doing when He brought us to Huntsville (as if I had doubts! :) )

- Experiences. Even though some of my experiences have not been the most pleasant - I am thankful for each one. Through them I have learned, grown, and become a better person.

I am sure there are so many more! Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I am off to enjoy some yummy food with my family!

And we're off...

Charlotte here we come!!!!!!

Can't wait to see my family!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Finally Friday...

It always seems like when you have something you are looking forward to, it never gets here fast enough :) This week actually didn't take too long... I stayed pretty busy at work - but it is SO great that the weekend is here!

I don't think I've blogged about this (think I had to let it all sink in first!)
A couple months ago my brother, Eric, called me and informed me that he had signed up to join the Marines. I was in total shock, but evidently he had been thinking about this for a long time. Which is good! While most of me is a mix of emotions (WORRY, scared, nervous...) I can't help but be really happy for him. This is something that he really wants to do, and he is really excited about it.
Back in July he got engaged, since he will be started bootcamp in April (when they were originally going to get married) they bumped up the date of the wedding to January 16! I am so excited! This means that I am going to get to go to Charlotte to see my family in November (for Thanksgiving), in December (right before Christmas), and in January (for the wedding)!

I miss my family so much! It will be so great to see them NEXT WEEK! I have so much to do before then! :)

One more week...

Can you believe that in one more week I will be home with my family to celebrate Thanksgiving?! Crazy! Not to mention the weather has been getting up in the 70's here! It just doesn't feel like the holidays!

I realized that I mainly do my blog posts on Mondays - just blogging about our weekend. Guess that's when we really do stuff :) Although, this weekend we really didn't do anything! It was so nice!

Saturday was spent cleaning. Sounds fun, right? I do love having a clean house though! Garet also managed to rearrange our beds. We are preparing to get our bedroom furniture, so we moved our bed into the guest room, and now our bed is just on a bed frame. Garet works most every night this week, so it was the only time he could do it before we (hopefully) get the furniture on Thursday. I can't wait!!!

Yesterday we got to actually watch the Panther's game on OUR t.v.!! Most of the time, to see the game we have to go out - it is never televised here! Yesterday we played Atlanta - soooo we got to see it! And I'm glad we did! WE WON! Woo Hoo! (bout time!)

I have my cake class tonight :) I get to learn how to make roses! I am having a lot of fun with it! I will be sure to take some pictures (unless they look ugly).

I did manage to get a shot of us... it only took about 50 takes :)

Birthday Cake...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD!!!

Today is my dad's birthday! I really wish I was in Charlotte to celebrate! Only 2 more weeks and I'll be there (for Thanksgiving!)


I made this cake in cake class! It was my first cake :)

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!!!

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On that note - I am taking a cake class! A co-worker and I decided to take a class because we were both interested in making "fun" cakes! Seriously if I could do it all over again, I think I would want to do something like that. Like the big crazy cakes you see on Food Network! Anyway, this week we had to bring in a cake that was iced, and we learned some techniques to do with it. (I had to do the rainbow on this cake) And we started learning how to make roses! I am really excited about it!

Saturday...

So far this has been a beautiful weekend! The sun is out, there is a breeze but it isn't cold, there isn't a single cloud in the sky... just beautiful!

Since Garet and I have been married I have wanted a new bedroom set. Right now we have hand me down stuff. The bed and the nightstands match, and then the two dressers and mirror match. I have really wanted a new matching set! I think I finally convinced Garet that we should get on a few weeks ago :) My friend Amanda told me about this place called Dogtown. I think she gets most of her furniture from there. So, we set out to look at bedroom sets yesterday.

We figured we would probably get one... We both kinda knew what we were looking for. And we found one! Here it is
I am SOO excited! It is being delivered later this week.

After that we went to Camp Comer. It is a Boy Scout camp. Garet has had to stay there a few times for different things, and he always says he wants to show it to me. Well it is about an hour and a half away, so I have never been. Unfortunately I forgot my camera - but this camp was so beautiful! It is right on a lake, and with the fall leaves everything just looked so pretty! We walked around for a couple hours, Garet showed me all around :)

Looks like today is going to be just as nice as yesterday!

Halloween...

Well today is Halloween. Garet is out of town for work. Suzi decided to get sick. On Thursday she started having an upset stomach (I'll spare you the details) and then yesterday she seemed better. I didn't think too much of it. But then last night she woke me up every.single.hour to go out. I am not even kidding... I looked at the clock each time: 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3, 4... So I am tired to say the least. She spent the morning at the vet, and is now sleeping. She'll be fine, thank goodness! It's always so tough when they can't tell you what's wrong.

Anyway, I am probably just going to hand out candy tonight. Some friends of ours are having a party, but I didn't even think of what to be, and now I am just exhausted from not getting sleep, and then running around all day (I took advantage of the dog not being here and cleaned the house!)

Hope everyone has a great Halloween!! Can't wait to see pictures of the costumes :)

Nashville...

Garet and I headed to Nashville this weekend. It was a last minute decision, but we had so much fun!

It didn't start off as fun though...
Yep, that's my back tire. COMPLETELY flat! We debated: just ignore it, get in the other car and go... or suck it up and fix it now. We fixed it. I'm glad we did - I wouldn't have wanted to get home and had to fix it.

So, we finally got on the road - and when we got there, the sky was clear, sun was shinning, it was a beautiful day! We got all checked in - and when I looked out on our patio, they were setting up for a wedding! Can you tell?

We decided to walk around downtown for a bit. What a pretty town! I haven't been to Nashville since I was like 10. I took tons of pictures - I won't bore you with all of them :) Here are a few:

I had to do the backside shot!

Last year, for work, Garet had to go to Opry Mills for a conference. He kept calling me from the hotel telling me how BIG it was! He kept saying "It's like you're outside, but you're not!" I didn't get it. He wanted to show me what he was talking about, so we went by there - I get it now!

This place was HUGE!!! And it really felt like you were outside! We kept walking and walking, it never seemed to stop! It was beautiful too! The hotel was white, and the balconies were black iron. There were little shops and bars and restaurants everywhere too. Garet took me beside this one bar that was in a circle. When we got beside it he said, does it feel like you are moving? The whole bar rotated! It was very slow, I actually felt really dizzy. This waterfall was right beside it.

I can't believe how long I just went on and on about the hotel! I don't get out much :) I promise we did other stuff!

That night we went out. We walked around Broadway (the Honky Tonks) and 2nd (the Entertainment District). It was great! We heard lots and lots of live music! Not all of it was country, but most was! I looked for some boots - I really want some cowboy (girl?) boots! But I didn't see any I liked.

We had great weather - and such a good time! It is nice to just get out of town for a little bit!