The Adventures of boys...

The Mr. and Hunter had a great time together yesterday. I heard all about it over dinner; neither of them could stop talking about it and laughing. I am so glad they had a good time together. Male bonding is good! I came home from work and actually beat them home, which gave me time to unpack our suitcase and organize some Christmas gifts. Whew! As soon as they walked in the door they were talking and Hunter brought me the camera to see the pictures. How impressed do you think I was that they took pictures? Very! I am getting ready to email them to my parents right now so they can see what fun Hunter is having, but wanted to share them on here too for our other family and friends. Enjoy the pictures!

Hunter was excited about the snow on our balcony and called it "good snow"

The kid said he wanted to walk on frozen water...this is a frozen canal near our house. After this part of their adventure I got a text from him saying "I boot skated!" Ha!

Boot print on a frozen canal!

Hunter was brave and stood near where the ice stopped and water started on this pond. I don't think I would have done that!

Ducks at the pond...winter does not bother them!

First time sledding-I think he liked it!

Sliding across the pond on your knees...so much fun according to Hunter!



First time snowboarding...did he fall? Nope!



Way to go Hunter!

Last but not least my wonderful hubs! :)

We have an exciting night and few days ahead of us. I am leaving work today at 2:30 and heading home to change into my cute ski gear (yes, you must look cute on the slopes!) and hitting to road for Michigan for a night of skiing. I am excited because I have never been in the state of Michigan and also scared because...I will be honest, I stink at skiing. It should be fun. We are going here: 

I will have an exciting post when we get back about our skiing adventures I am sure! Have a great day!

Hunter's first taste of snow!

My little brother Hunter is in Indiana spending a week with us. He was totally surprised by the trip :) While in Florida, I kept asking him if he was excited (repeatedly) and he of course was not excited about a 15+ hour drive...but his tune has changed! This boy has grown up in Florida and had never seen snow on the ground or falling prior to Monday. He first saw snow when we were driving-about 60 miles south of Atlanta. Granted the snow there was minimal, but he noticed it right away. The farther north we traveled the more snow we encountered (not on the roads, they were clear) and I could not wait to stop and let him feel it...finally we stopped at a rest stop in Tennessee on top of a mountain no less. I am pretty sure Hunter bounced out of the car before The Mr. even had the vehicle in park. Of course I followed behind telling him to wait until I got my camera out...this was something I had to document!

Once the camera was out of my purse and ready to capture the moment; Hunter touched the snow and then smiled from ear to ear. Following this he tried to throw a snowball at me; his loving sister-only the snow was powdery and did not pack well. Ha, sorry bro! We had a great short stop in Tennessee and froze our hands nearly off, but it was worth it! Here are the pictures documenting the first time my little brother got to touch and taste fresh snow...enjoy!

This was Hunter's expression as we pulled up to the rest stop-the kid was so excited!

Evidence of the snowball I threw at him...powdery cloud!

Excuse the hair and lack of makeup, we started this journey at 4am and I was not about to get ready!

Yummy :)

I included the last picture just because I think it is beautiful! Hunter and The Mr. are planning a full day of sledding and playing in the snow today while I work. I asked them to take lots of pictures so I can post them...I guess we will have to wait and see how that goes :) I am getting more and more excited about falling down a mountain night skiing tomorrow night with the guys. Sounds like a great way to start a New Year's holiday weekend! More updates coming soon!

Christmas 2010 {lonnng post with loooots of pictures}

Our Christmas started on Thursday when we hit the pavement bound for Florida. We left at our scheduled departure time and must of had a heck of a tail wind going because we made great time. We only stopped a few times for gas and potty breaks and the trip still took less than 16 hours. That is good time my friends! Stephen started out on the first driving shift and did such a great job getting us through Indiana and Kentucky. I took the wheel somewhere around Tennessee so my hubs could get some sleep...for some reason I was still awake and alert enough to drive...let me just say that you have to be awake and alert to drive through Tennessee...no straight or flat roads there! I would also like to say that I would be okay with never driving through Tennessee at that hour again. 

Fast forward to our arrival in Florida at my parents house around 10am on Christmas Eve. It was so nice to get out of the car and stretch. We were both pretty much in zombie mode, with our eyes glazed over-but we made it! Thank goodness our plans did not involve anything during the day on 12.24.10. We were able to talk with my Mom and brother for a bit before showering and laying down for a 3 hour nap. Aghh...some shut eye! In the evening we had a scheduling conflict with our church's Christmas Eve service and Aunt Erin's 32nd Annual Christmas Eve party-they started at the same time! Grrr. We really wanted to go to the party since there would be family and friends there that we had not seen since our wedding so we developed an alternative plan. Low and behold, the First Baptist Church was having a huge Christmas Eve service in the stadium at the local high school; complete with fake snow and hot chocolate. AND, it started an hour before the party. SCORE! So we get ready and head to the high school (where I graduated from and Hunter currently goes)...Apparently Mom did not tell Dad that this was an outside thing and he did not bring a big jacket. It was kind of chilly, in the 40s but that damp Florida cold (much different that Indiana). Mom was freezing and we only lasted for about 20 minutes before heading back to the car. We were there for praise and worship, but left before the message. We plan to be more prepared for the cold next year and go early too to get a seat. So then we headed to Aunt E's for the party and yummy food!

Us headed to the Christmas service at the high school!

This is the face I got when I asked Mom to give me a cold face! She smiled!

 We had a great time at the Christmas party enjoying the fellowship with family and friends while eating delicious food and watching the fire on the TV, thanks to Mom! Aunt E is an entertainer and always does to well putting parties together. I always look forward to Christmas Eve and all that it brings! After eating stuffing ourselves to capacity and saying our goodbyes we headed back to my parents house to get in our PJs. We gad a fun mini photo shoot and then started to watch Home Alone. Please note that watching a movie; a Christmas movie was my idea and I...made it about 15 or 20 minutes into the movie before I had to go to bed! I was so tired!

Hunter was our photographer and after him taking like 100 pictures and not understanding what I was asking him to do, I made him stand where I would be so I could take the picture and show him. This is the picture I took and it just makes me laugh! :)

Finally, a good one like I had visioned in my head! :) 

Me and Mom with the pups on Christmas Eve!

All the kids for a picture...yes the dogs are included :) Oh, and I won't even mention how many pictures were taken before we got this one good one with all 5 of us looking at the right camera!

Bristol...he only looks sweet and innocent.

Christmas morning we had our alarms set for 7, but ended up getting up around 7:30. I was shocked when I walked out to the living room expecting to see what "Santa" had brought only to see nothing. Santa forgot to visit us!! I woke my parents up and then we went back to our rooms while Santa did his thing. The next time we came out we saw the beautiful tree with all the pretty wrapped presents. We started opening and had a great time together as a family of 5 and we all got great gifts! Hunter's face was priceless when he opened the gift from Stephen and I; his plane ticket back to Florida in a week. His face lit up and he had his childlike smile-the one where you can see his teeth. It was great!

This picture is the beginning of  Hunter opening his gift from us!

At this point, he is pretty excited!

Look at that happy smile! :)

Bristol once did not like Stephen, but they are friends now so it is okay!

Super cute ornament from "Santa" Mr. and Mrs. Potato head with Disney balloons. I LOVE it!

After Christmas at my parents we all go ready and headed to Gram's for Christmas at her house. We have been going there for as long as I can remember for breakfast and gift opening with the entire family. I have been told things were not always like this, but it was I grew up doing and knowing as familiar. We always have delicious food and this year there was an addition; William made grits that we.to.die.for, bacon, and sausage. I was in breakfast heaven for about 30 minutes! After eating again we started the gift opening. Let me just say, that this part of the morning is CRAZY. It was so nice this year to be in the adult, married room which meant that we got to see all the kids open their presents. I could not see all the kids from my position, but the ones that I could see were great! After the adults opened their gifts we started the clean up process and then headed back to my parents house for Christmas dinner. Dad made prime rib for the main course and it was D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S!!! He is such a good cook! We had other things along with that and it made for a great Christmas dinner. We even got to eat outside because the weather was nice and pretty warm.

Little Savannah was cute even though she was a little moody, she can still be that way and get away with being cute. You think she has people wrapped around her finger? You would be correct!

Gram with all the grand kids :)

Love my little Haley bug, she is getting so big. I can't believe it, but she still loves to cuddle and watch movies-not too old for that yet!

Hannah is getting so big too, she is up to my shoulders for crying out loud. I wish kids did not grow up!

I love them!

Gram with her kids and their spouses, one big happy family :)

Cousin Becky and her beautiful girls...seriously Kara could be a model!

Once everyone was in a food coma it was time to relax again. I say relax, but I mean sleep :) After a nap in the afternoon Stephen and I headed to pick up Keri and then meet Jessie B.,  Jessie J and Matt at I-hop. We were able to continue out tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts over breakfast and had a great time even though all of us were exhausted. The girls loved the homemade gifts that I included for them and I was so glad.

As you can see we had a great Christmas-a busy one, but a good one. One that I will not soon forget. We are so thankful for our family and friends in Florida and we cherish the time we were able to spend with each of you. We wish you all a very Happy New Year and hope to see you all again soon :)

We're Back!

We are officially back in Indiana from our Christmas in Florida with my family. I have been so overly excited for this week for one reason...I could not share it on my blog because it was a surprise, but my little brother Hunter is in Indiana to spend the week with us! {insert happy dance here}The Mr. and I got him a plane ticket home for Christmas and he was so excited, so was I. Anyways, we made record time getting back to the Hoosier State. Actually, we made record time getting to Florida also. Let me just say that driving at night is worth it. No traffic, yes please!

We have a busy week planned for Hunter that includes ssledding, snowboarding and snow ball fights! I have to work Tues-Thurs but The Mr. is off and they are able to spend some quality "guy time" together while I get some things done at the office...I am just concerned about what the apartment will look like when I get home! We will see how this goes!

I have posts and lots of pictures from our trip to Florida and plan on sharing those as soon as I can go through all the pictures that were taken and weed out the bad ones! Also, we got our wedding pictures from our photographer so I have lots of those to share too! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas with family and friends. We know we did!

Merry Christmas!

I figured Christmas Eve was a good time to prevail our 2010 Christmas card, especially since they should already have arrived at family and friends houses. We hope you and your families all have a very Merry Christmas! Remember the reason for the season :)

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,  and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.  But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.  The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. Luke 2: 4-21