I am sad to say that Christmas is over and the decorations are in the process of coming down. Our 2nd Christmas together was wonderful and maybe even better than the first! Things just keep getting better. We got to spend a lot of time together since I'm out of school and he was off work most of last week.

Once the cabinets were finished, we got to focus solely on Christmas, which was wonderful! Christmas Eve was an adventure, but that's ok! We planned to attend 2 services that night (our church and my parent's church) with dinner in between, but that didn't exactly happen because no restaurants were open on Christmas Eve. We finally ended up at Milo's which was the only place we could find open!

Christmas morning was incredible as always! Reed surprised (and spoiled) me with wonderful presents I was not expecting to get. More to come on those in future posts. We spent the afternoon at my parent's house where mom cooked her famous spaghetti for lunch. It was so yummy!! Our evening was spent at Reed's parent's house. We watched Ian open his presents, which was precious! He was great on his first Christmas!

This is the first year that I can remember not getting to spend time with my grandparents at Christmas. We all missed them a lot, but know that they enjoyed spending Christmas at their house in Michigan for the first time in a LONG time! I am very jealous that they had A LOT of snow on Christmas morning to enjoy! Hopefully they miss the warm weather and will be down to visit VERY soon!

The Lord gave us so many blessings and opportunities in 2008, we can't wait to see what He has in store for us in 2009! See you all next year!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Two weeks before Christmas I decided I wanted to paint the kitchen cabinets. Probably not the best timing because Christmas is busy enough on it's own. Well, we did it. We painted the cabinets and I LOVE them!! I'm so happy with the way they turned out.

Before: During:


After:

Last Friday night my incredible sister got engaged!! She called while Reed and I were at the McWane Center for his work Christmas party. I was screaming like a little girl and everyone was looking at me, but I didn't care! My sister had just called to tell me that she was engaged to an incredible, God-fearing man and I needed EVERYONE to know!! I made them take this cheesy picture for me when they came to my house on Sunday. I am so excited for both of them and ecstatic that we get to start planning another wedding! I'm sure dad is thrilled about this part, too!! I am ashamed it has taken me this long to write the post, but oh what a week it has been!! I love you both very much and can't wait for the many months and years ahead!!

I thought everyone should get to experience the e-mail I got from "the one and only" Kelly Brown. Enjoy!

Matilda wanted to help Reed cut down the tree!

The Nike+ challenge is going well. We are on Day 20 and haven't given up! Last night's walk was EXTREMELY cold, but we survived it.

Fall is officially here! We went to the Auburn/Georgia game on Saturday and just about froze! There is just something about watching football in the cold that I love! Reed has spent the last two Sundays out in the yard raking leaves. If you've ever been to our house then you know what a challenge this is. Our house is surrounded by trees! We had two trees removed this summer, but the leaves are still falling out of control! Once the leaves are all raked into a nice big pile Matilda and I like to come outside and "help."

This is the theme of Reed's latest Nike+ Plus challenge. Some of you already know, but a few months ago Reed and I both invested in the Nike+ systems. We love them. The first month we were both very motivated, but lately it's just taken a backseat to other things in life.

Today, while at work, Reed sent me an invite to a new challenge:: run or walk at least 1 mile everyday until the end of the year, 50 days. With Thanksgiving and Christmas quickly approaching it is especially easy to forget about exercising. We're both excited about the challenge and took Matilda on a 2 mile walk tonight to get it kicked off. It was a beautiful night for a walk! We'll keep you updated as time goes by!

My advice for new brides is:

• Get your name changed on your passport as soon as you have your name changed. It will save you a lot of hassle and it will be free. Otherwise, you have to pay $75.

Yes, my advice comes from my experience yesterday.

I am going to Nicaragua in January with my mom and sister and have been trying to get my name changed on my passport before we go. Well, I needed a paper that said I "officially" changed my name. After scavenging the house to try and find such paper, Reed and I concluded that it was lost. I thought, "no big deal, I go and get another printed." Boy was I wrong!

After calling SEVERAL courthouse phone numbers, I finally got someone to answer. The lady told me to come on in and they would print one out for $1.00 per page. Again, I was thinking, "no big deal, I'll go after school." I get to the Jefferson County Courthouse at 4:05. I walk in, and explain to the people at the counter what I need. They send me downstairs to the records room. This is where the trouble began. The man in the records room looked up my name and told me I wasn't in the system. Seriously! I'm not in the system! I ask him what I should do or where I should go from here. He just kept repeating "You're not in the system" I wanted to scream, "We've established that, what do I do now!" But I didn't. I kept my composure and simply walked away.

Back upstairs, this sweet woman asks me if I've been help. I said "yes," but continued with my story. I am just about in tears at this point. She calls Shelby County to see if the record is there and the people are rude to her on the phone. Why do people have to be rude?? It's really not nice. Anyway, she asks me why I need it and I explain that I am trying to get a new passport and she says I am chasing down the wrong thing! What?!?! After all this!! She said all I needed was a certified copy of my marriage license! She takes me to the other end of the counter and prints out the license. She didn't even charge me for it! I really wish I knew this woman's name because she was so kind and patient with me. I am so thankful that God put her in that building at just that time. He is so good!!

I mailed out my passport renewal application this morning, so hopefully it is all taken care of now!

If you have gotten married in the last year or are getting married soon, I suggest you take care of this as soon as possible!

Our sweet puppy Matilda has been extremely lazy the last few days. She has been completely worn out when we get home. In the mornings, we have to wake her up and force her outside. Well, a few nights ago while she was sleeping I realized it was cold in our house. I got myself a blanket and thought, "Hey, Matilda might be cold, too" So I pulled out a blanket and covered her up thinking she would wiggle herself out of it. She didn't. She simply looked up at me, then layed her head right back down and went to sleep! Here is a picture of our spoiled puppy sleeping, all snuggled into the blanket.
ps: the black thing on the left of the picture is her "Mr. Bear" squeaky toy/sleeping buddy.

Election day is almost here. This is going to be a very exciting/scary day for several reasons. The biggest reason I am excited is because all the political ads will be done! Don't get me wrong, I do feel very strongly about voting and about our country, but I am very glad that all those TV ads will be over soon!

I've never been one to be terribly involved in the political realm, but this year I've listened and paid attention. As Christians, we need to cling to the scriptures and trust that God is in total control of the situation. I plan to go out tomorrow and vote for the candidate I feel most reflects my values as a Christian. I pray that the candidates of God's own choosing will be elected. We are all called to pray continuously for our country while trusting that God's will be done.

Reed and I got to spend this Halloween with our adorable niece and nephew. Mom, dad, Melissa, Jonathan, Reed and I went trick-or-treating with Tommy, Jill, Mia and Tre. Mia was Dorothy and Tre was the cowardly lion. He did get the badge of courage, although I'm not sure he earned it! He's not exactly a "tough guy" yet. His sister of course is a daredevil and had no problem walking up to every house we passed with a light on. One of her friends from the neighborhood came with us and they were so cute walking up to the houses together. Tre didn't exactly get it, whenever he went to the houses he would say, "trick-or-treating" and he would get the people talking and then double dip into the candy bowl! It was pretty entertaining to watch them. Matilda came along, and even got to get carried part of the way. She is so incredibly spoiled!

We didn't get to see Ian on Halloween, but we did see him a few days before at the Halloween carnival at our church. He was dressed up as an adorable little caterpillar! What a cute little bug he was!

Our Sunday school class, The Footsteps, had a pumpkin carving party last night and it was so much fun!! We carved our pumpkins during halftime of the Auburn game. The guys really got into carving! We feel extremely blessed to be a part of this wonderful group. We have 12 "regulars" in our class so far, but we are always looking for more! The class started in April, but went through a few rocky months over the summer. It seemed like everyone was always out of town! Well, fall is here and the class is back in full swing. We are studying the book of Mark right now. If you haven't found a church home, or a Sunday school class, we would love for you to join us. We meet every Sunday in the chapel of Bluff Park United Methodist Church @ 10:00 a.m. The Lord is doing wonderful things in our class and we hope you will join us!

We just got back from a fabulous weekend in Siesta Key, Florida. Bryan and Natalie tied the knot on Sunday evening in a beautiful beachside wedding. Before we get to the wedding, let me take you back to Friday...

we're still Auburn fans! The game was just plain pitiful. Thankfully, my sweet, sweet parents made the day a ton of fun for everyone despite the loss!

One of my family's favorite things to do is sit outside in the fall, winter, spring (and yes, sometimes summer) around a fire. We can sit out there for hours just talking and hanging out. We thought it would be fun to be able to do this while watching the Auburn game, so mom and dad got it all set up!

Mom went to Charter and got an extra cable box (since the game was on Pay-Per-View) and pre-ordered the game on Thursday. We didn't want to take any chances on gameday! Mom and dad spent much of Saturday morning getting the tv set up outside. They had everything all worked out and set up when we got over there for the game. Everything was working great until game time! The Pay-Per-View wouldn't work! It worked in the house so luckily we didn't miss kick-off. Mom spent a good while on the phone with Charter, but still couldn't get it to work. Then dad and Tommy came up with a plan. I'm not really sure how, but somehow they got the tv outside to work! Their cable-man backgrounds saved the day! We got to enjoy 3 of 4 quarters outside, by the wonderful fire dad had built. And so, despite the loss, we managed to have a good day and night! Even Matilda got to come and enjoy the atmosphere. Mom and dad don't have a fence so she felt like a hotshot getting to roam around in the woods!
After the game, my sister and her boyfriend headed off to her 10 year high school reunion. I can't believe she has been out of school for 10 years! That means mine is only 4 years away andReed's is only 2 years away! That just seems crazy! She said they had a lot fun getting to see people she hadn't seen in a while.
Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without an update on Matilda! She got a new toy on Friday. A "Mr. Bear" of her very own! Reed and I found it at Publix and couldn't resist! We've caught her snuggling with it several times already! We're such proud parents. I can only imagine how we'll be with a real child... Well, that's all for our weekend. We hope you all had as good of a weekend as we did!

Have you ever had one of those weeks where nothing is really "wrong", but everything you do just seems to be in order to pass the time. Well, last week was one of those weeks. Nothing was wrong, but I felt like I was just going through the motions as I went through my routine for the week: Sunday: Church & youth Bible study, Monday: Bible study & school, Tuesday: school & Bible study, Wednesday: school, Thursday: school, Friday: school... My weeks are basically the same, as I'm sure it is for most people. Sometimes (most of the time) this routine is a good thing, you always know what to expect. Well, last week, it just felt boring! BUT, the most incredible part of my job is that I have 15 little ones to remind me why I do what I do. When I got to school on Friday one of my students handed me this:Isn't that precious? It made for a wonderful day on Friday and a great weekend! I get a ton of hugs everyday! It's very easy to get wrapped up with the paperwork and such in my job, but this picture was a great reminder to me of why it's worth putting up with. I hung the picture on my window by desk and look at it often for reassurance!

This past weekend we got to see a lot of our friends we haven't seen in a while. Michael Carra got married so lots of Reed's fraternity brothers (and wives/girlfriends) came in town! It was great to get to see everyone! Cliff, Kristin and Maya stayed with us Saturday night. Matilda loved having company! The reception was wonderful and everyone had a good time. We ask that God would bless this new marriage. Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Michael Carra! We hope you are enjoying your honeymoon!

Ok, I know this post is LONG overdue, but as the old saying goes "better late, than never!!" We spent our Labor Day weekend between Lake Martin and Auburn. It was great! We got to spend lots of time swimming in the water and riding in the boat with these precious kids: