January 2011 Date Night

At the beginning of the year when Brian and I were talking about things we wanted to do this year, we both agreed we wanted to start a monthly date night. Nothing extravagant, but just a little time for us to spend together and talk. I knew January would be a difficult month for us. Brian traveled for work for one entire week, Monday-Friday, and then right after he got home I left for 5 days. We had hoped this date night would be right after I got home and it worked out perfectly. I got home on Wednesday and we had our planned date night on Saturday.

When we were planning this, we decided to write down 12 places that we like to eat, Brian picked 6 and I picked 6 and each month we will randomly draw one of the sheets of paper and that is where we will go. This method decides for us, we don't have to argue about where we want to or one of us always having to give in to the other. Last night we went here:




(there would have been no arguing about going here since we both love this place)

I should have taken pictures of what we ate, although you probably don't really care about that. Of course we had Bang Bang Shrimp for our appetizer. For my entree, I had the Imperial Wolf Fish, it was a baked fish, stuffed with sea scallops, shrimp, and crab - it was delicious. Brian had rainbow trout with a special seasoning and garlic whipped potatoes. We were both so full afterwards that all we wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep. I even told Mom and Dad when we arrived at their house that I wished I had brought my pajamas and tooth brush, all I wanted to do was go to sleep!

And after we finished dinner we went here and walked around. I was trying to find a cookbook that I have been looking for, but I was unsuccessful. It was nice to spend a little time together.




Once we were done, we went to my parent's house and picked up Hayden. She had a blast, of course.

Here is our date night picture - I asked Dad to take one of us, but as soon as he pulled out the camera, Hayden came running - she wanted it to be a family picture.




Thanks for watching Hayden for us, we enjoyed ourselves. And we can't wait until our date night in February. I am going to try and document each one. I think it will be fun to look back over the year and remember each one.

Busy as a Bee

This little dress has bumble bees on it and they are precious. Hayden was just buzzing around in her little dress so I thought I would snap a few pictures. She wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a good pic, but you get the idea.

She is busy as a Bee!

Atlanta Market

On Saturday, I had the wonderful privledge of heading over to Atlanta to market. I haven't been in a few years, and I didn't want to let this year pass me by. I almost didn't make it for various reasons, but so glad I got to go again this year. I hope to make it back soon. I wanted to take a couple of pictures to show you how amazing this place is. If you ever get the chance to go, you definately should. My Dad shows at the furniture show there twice a year and it is so much fun to get passes and shop all day! Thank you Brian for watching Hayden all day long on Saturday so I could enjoy the day with my sweet niece, Ariel and my Mom!

Signs lining the streets welcoming everyone to Market



These next two pictures don't really do market justice, but it is 13 floors of shopping galore, all at wholesale prices - pure heaven if I must say so myself.





Mom and I right before we hit the shoppes



Maybe I will be back soon - so hard to buy anything at regular price when you know how much it really costs the retailers to buy the items. I got Hayden a few dresses for this Spring and Summer and I am sure I will be seeing them in Storkland in the coming weeks!

1.10.11

January 10, 2011 - it was a day that started out just like so many others. I woke up and got ready, went and got Hayden up and we ate breakfast and began playing. We went about our normal routine for most of the day. It was a Monday and I was at home due to hazordous winter weather conditions. Some roads and bridges were iced over, so there was no sense in Brian or I risking anything to make our normal trek to work that day. We stayed home and stayed inside. We made a day out of it. We played together, ate together, and spent precious time together as a family.

But January 10, 2011 was a special day it was a day that will forever live in my mind, my heart, and in my memories. January 10, 2011 was to be the day the Auburn Tigers became the National Champions for the first time in my life, the first time in my 31 years on earth. I have spent every waking hour loving my Tigers, pulling for them, spending hard earned money on Auburn apparel, for myself, for Brian, for Maggie, and now for Hayden. I spent five years at Auburn University and I believe I am the person I am today because of the decisions I made while there. I am the first to tell you that I made plenty of mistakes, but God was with me the entire time and his plan for my life is more evident than I have ever seen and Auburn was clearly a major part of that process. I could go on and on about my time there, but I won't.

I remember vividly almost every game of 2004 - The Perfect Season, our dream team. But that year was different and we ended up being locked out of the BCS computers and were not allowed to play for the National Championship, but this year, THIS year was different. Auburn fought hard for every single win and some may say we barely survived some games, but looking back over the season, every game was a defining point for us.

I wish this post was about my experience in Glendale, AZ. But I didn't make it to the game this year. The timing was just off for us and Brian was scheduled to go out of town for work (which ended up not happening because of the weather)and obviously I didn't want to fly to Phoenix by myself, stay in a hotel by myself, and attend the game by myself, so I opted to stay home and pull for the Tigers on tv. Believe me I was there in spirit. I would have given anything, almost!!

I know some of you are reading this, thinking how dramatic is this post, how crazy to have these feelings. But if so, you just don't understand. You just don't get it! It may not be that important to you, and I can respect that. But to me, it is so much more than football. Auburn people are family and we all have that common thread that bonds us together. I know if you pull for another school I am sure you can say the same thing, but I am here to promise you it is different. You may not think so, but it is. I will leave it at that.

I have dreamed for years and years about having kids and growing up going to the games as we did, I watched during my years as a student there at all the little families that tailgate together and I thought how fun is that? I have desperately wanted that, we even took Hayden to her first game this year, first of many I know. We won't just limit it to football either. I am not just a football fan, I am an Auburn fan. And shortly after Hayden was born I had a long talk with her about my love for Auburn, I told her that if she decided to become an Auburn fan (although I have no idea how she would choose otherwise) that she should protect her heart because they will break it, as mine has been broken so many times. I hope she understands!

So I will end this by saying that January 10, 2011 was the day that #1 Auburn beat #2 Oregon 22-19 as time expired off the clock with a field goal by Wes Byrum in the most dramatic of fashion, but looking back over our Championship Season that was the perfect ending.

I leave you with a War Eagle - Family All In! I believe in Auburn and I love it!

How we spent our New Year's Day...

We were busy as ever, doing a little bit of this...having tea parties of course!





A little bit of this...reading, one of our favorites things to do.



And a whole lot of this! This child ate all day long and I just let her, I couldn't think of a better way to star the New Year!

Christmas Afternoon

It was the final Christmas gathering for 2010. Each Christmas late afternoon we get together at my parent's house (aka - Gram and Pap) and we have our traditional steaks, baked potato, salad, and lots of desserts. The food was great, of course, and it was the first time in several days that I had eaten, so it was especially yummy for me.

My Mom loves Christmas and loves to make sure that the kids and grandkids love coming over. I think she has succeeded. I took a few pictures to show how wonderfully decorated everything is, so much fun! Gram goes all out for the stockings each year too and from my own personal experience, these are the best!

The Grandkids' stockings hanging just out of reach!



Our Christmas Dinner Table



Foyer table



The Christmas Tree



Now the fun begins, here are some pictures from the eventful night, I saw eventful because Hayden was non-stop and she basically drove me nuts. She was into everything, the Christmas ornaments (she pretty much un-decorated the tree), she didn't want to eat, so she was throwing food on the floor, at least it wasn't across the table as she does at home sometimes, she knocked over and tried to eat some plants, and she wanted to play with everyone else toys and stocking stuffers. Sweet Reagan even came over to me and asked me if Hayden could open her own stocking :)

Here is Hayden - I think she was just checking out everyone's gifts to make sure no one got more than her :)



Opening up her very own Giraffe bike



This has to be one of my favorite pictures. The two girls (my sister's little girl is three weeks older than Hayden) were really getting into playing with each other this time. They loved each other's company and it was so fun to watch. I walked into my Dad's office and Brian was watching this unfold, it was too precious. They were just talking to each other. Brian and I were trying to figure out if they could understand each other or not, surely!



Hayden's new favorite location...



And finally this is always Hayden's very first stop when she gets to Gram and Pap's - she heads straight for the toy box!



Our family Christmas picture right before we were headed out the door. I thought it turned out well!




This wraps up my Christmas pictures from 2010! I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas and your New Year is AUsome!

Surprised Little Girl

Christmas morning this year was fun. Hayden didn't realize what was going on, so she didn't wake up at the crack of dawn, but she was old enough to realize something had happened over night. She was just so excited to see everything, I know it was so overwhelming for her, but she played and played all morning. When she woke up from her nap, her first word was "play". So we played some more. We had a wonderful day. I didn't get a chance to make the big Christmas morning breakfast that I had intentions to make, a tradition I want to start, because I was still feeling rather sickly, but I made some cinnamon rolls and they were enjoyed.

We decided that when Hayden woke up we would go in and get her and bring her stocking to her. I hope to continue to do this, so she gives her full attention to her stocking without the big distractions that Santa left by the tree. We shall see, it worked great this year, of course.







This picture is where I found Hayden about an hour or so after we finished opening gifts and eating breakfast, she was back in her room to check out that stocking again.



After the stockings were finished, we went to the living room and found Santa's gifts, Hayden was all smiles!









Even Maggie joined in on the Christmas morning fun - Santa never forgets her either!





I saw this bone for about 5 seconds after Maggie opened it and then it was gone, she has hiden it somewhere, like she always does. I would think she would want to enjoy it, oh well. Crazy dog.



We opened more gifts and listened to Christmas carols all morning, it was so nice.

Christmas Eve 2010

I will start with Christmas Eve, since this is the first day of our Christmas holidays that I actually took pictures. I had planned to have 6 full days at home during Christmas, so Hayden and I could enjoy our time together listening to Christmas carols, baking cookies, visiting Santa (one more time), we had plans to go to the Montgomery Zoo to see the Holidays lights, and we were going to spend a little time shopping and enjoying all the decorations, but apparently that was not part of God's plan. Instead of 6 days off, I got 7 - Hayden woke up a day before my vacation would begin throwing up and we were up and off. It was an awful day, followed by several more awful days leading right up to Christmas day itself. Hayden ended up having the stomach flu and she was fine after day one, but she passed it along to me and I was not fine after one day. It took me several days to recover. We didn't do anything during those several days at home. I curled up in bed for one of them. I didn't eat for a few days, which meant I was unable to enjoy a single bite of food on Christmas eve - ugh. Oh well, maybe next year.

So enough about all of that. Here are pictures from our Christmas Eve. As you can tell Hayden felt good and we had fun at Brian's parents.

Here she is trying to figure out what exactly is going on - looking to Daddy for some guidance...



Hayden delivering presents to everyone. I wish I could have watched everyone open up their gifts, but there was no order to the present opening. Of course, trying to have any order whatsoever with a toddler is quite funny in itself. Afterwards I even realized that one gift for me was still left on the couch that I never even opened because I didn't see it. And I had to ask which gifts were from whom so I would know who to thank. So in case I missed someone, thank you. If I didn't say thank you that night, it was honestly because I had no idea what we got. If Brian opened something I didn't even know about it until the next day.



Looks like Hayden is getting the hang of it, she finally was able to open up her gifts. Her very first doll house!

1.1.11.

Wow - today is 1-1-11, it has a nice ring to it doesn't it? I love New Year's, it has to be one of the best days of the year. The last two days of December are always hard for me because I am so excited to start the new year. I love new calendars, new books, etc.

I know New Year's Day shouldn't be the one day of the year where we want to start fresh, but I just can't help it. I spend the last week of the year buying new calendars, new devotionals, new books to read and making lists of things that I would like to accomplish, not resolutions so much. For instance I bought a new One Year Bible for me. I have read a lot of the bible, but I can't quote scripture, not anymore at least. I have always wanted to read through the entire Bible and study His Word, but honestly I have just never done it. So today is a new day and I always like to think of New Year's Day as a gift from God.

I also finished up a devotional last night and I finished up another book I was reading, so time for new ones. I read all the time, there is not a day that goes by that I am not reading something. I have books galore and I collect them, my book case is overflowing and I love it. How many books will I read this year?

I also bought "The Household Money Organizer" - Brian and I have to start doing a better job of managing our money, well actually I guess I need to, because Brian definately won't and this responsibility falls to me. It lays out a budget for me to fill in, it has a pocket each month for the bills and you write down the monthly fixed expenses and then you see how much you have left over for everything else. Unfortunately right now, we have a lot of "fixed expenses". It also then lets you fill in what you are saving for that month and what you will give too. Each month has a little story that goes with it and scripture to follow. I am loving it. I have tried several times to put us on a budget, but Brian doesn't cooperate, this year though, HE IS.

I receive a daily thought each morning in my e-mail inbox, I have gotten these for years. I really like yesterday's "thought" and I wanted to share it with you today on this New Year's Day.

There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
~ Louis L'Amour

Pictures will be coming soon from Christmas and I can't wait to share them with you.

Happy New Year from our family to yours...