Christmas Eve Eve and Eve 2010

Josh and I have had a great time over the Christmas holidays. I'm blogging in two parts because there are so many pictures.

Thursday night, Christmas Eve Eve, Josh and I celebrated together. We first went to dinner and then came home to watch a movie. Before the movie I really wanted Josh to open one of his presents from me. He and I don't usually give each other gifts but this year we decided to exchange them with a $25 limit. I was really excited about one of the gifts I bought him because I knew he would love it. I begged him to open it up and he did.

If you're a boy I don't think you're ever too old for things like this. It's a noisy putty and I'm sure you can imagine what kind of noises it makes. Josh loved it!

Can't you tell?? I had to MAKE him put it up so we could watch one of our favorite Christmas movies,
Elf.

Josh and I had a great relaxing evening together and I was very thankful for that. The next morning I had to get up and go to work. Boo. I got there early so I could leave early. After I got off Josh and I wanted to exchange our gifts then hit the road to see our families. After the car was all packed we opened our presents.

Look what I got! I'm sure you're not surprised.

This is what Josh got, a book (that hasn't come in yet) and a Starbucks gift card. We both loved our little gift exchange but we did it in a hurry so we could get on the road. The first stop was to visit family on Josh's dad side. When we got there everyone was about to start playing Apples to Apples so we jumped right it.

I really like this game because it doesn't take much thought. We had a great time. Josh siblings and cousins are a lot of fun.

Kylie and Jeremy, Brian and Jaye

Chelsia (Josh's sister) with Josh and I

Cody and Leslie

Josh with his brother Blake and sister Chelsia. These three don't get to all see each other that often so I was glad they were able to hang out for a little while.

This is cute Macy. She had just got up from her nap and her hair was wild. She is the sweetest little baby. She cuddles up to everyone and just smiles. I can't believe she'll be a year old this week. Josh was smitten with her.

All the cousins.

The cousins with Nana.

Josh with three of his favorite girls, Hallie, Layla, and Macy. These 3 girls belong to Jeremy and Kylie. I'm telling you these girls are so sweet and well behaved. I just love them and hope Sadie grows up to be as sweet and loving as they are.

After spending time with Josh's family we hit the interstate again and headed to my sister's house. My family traditionally has opened all of our presents on Christmas Eve and then wait for Santa Christmas morning. When we got to my sister's house we ate our traditional Pizza Parlour pizza and then my uncle gave my Granny her gift.

He scanned a bunch of old pictures into his computer and downloaded them onto a digital frame. My grandmother loved it. We all did. Josh really liked looking at all the old photos.

This is my Papa and Granny with my mom and her brother. Looking at these pictures really made me miss my Papa. I hate that he isn't here anymore to celebrate with us but I know the celebrations in Heaven are WAY better.

After Granny opened up her gifts we let my sister's foster daughter open up hers too. It was getting close to her bedtime so we didn't want to push it.

She loved her baby that Granny got her.

My Uncle Johnny and Aunt Pat were there for the fun too.

Granny opened up her gifts from us too. I think she's excited about her year's subscription to People Magazine. Ha! She can keep me updated on everything that's going on.

And of course my dad, Big D, was there for the fun too!

Chloe and Josh just chilled and watched. That is until Josh got out his own "toy" to show off.

Yes, he brought it with him. And I assure you this isn't the last time he brought it out. The boy can't get enough of this. To him it never gets old. He finally put it up so we could go to bed and wait for Santa to come visit us...

Merry Christmas

"Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."
Luke 2:11

Merry Christmas everyone! I pray today your hearts are full with the true meaning of Christmas (and my heart as well). Born on this day was our Messiah, our Lord. May He touch our hearts this coming year like He never has before. And may we be reminded of His greatness in all things we say and do.

This is a very special Christmas for Josh and I. It's our first Christmas expecting a new baby. And our last Christmas just the two of us. Although she's not physically here yet she's definitely being celebrated. And everyone is excited about her arrival. Let's hope and pray she stays inside my "soccer ball" uterus (according to my phone ap) for 16 more weeks.

That's right, today I'm 24 weeks pregnant. Wow! I remember the Wednesday morning I woke Josh up to tell him "I think there are 2 pink lines". It has flown by and I know the next 16 weeks will go by even faster.

This isn't the best picture, a little blurry, (taken on my camera) but you get the idea.

At this point in pregnancy I'm still nauseous. That's right. Still. I'm thinking it will be here until she's born. - My feet are also starting to swell, and my fingers. Nice. -
I am starting to move a lot slower and I know it's just going to get worse. - The congestion...oh my word. I can't hardly breath at night. - Sadie moves a lot and I love it. Josh still hasn't been able to feel her but her kicks are strong enough so it should be soon. - I can now eat chick-fil-a but only at breakfast. Baby steps. - Everything really is going well though!

I'm starting to panic a little because I have nothing done for her nursery. I have ordered a crib and I'm ordering fabric on Monday. But that's it. I better get busy.

Right now at this moment I'm just so thankful to be pregnant. Even though I'm still sick, I swell, I'm congested all the time, etc I'm so very thankful!

What a wonderful Christmas this has been.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

Several years ago my roommate at the time shared with me a recipe for a Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball. I had never heard of it before. I'm not sure where her recipe originated but I know for a fact I didn't come up with this masterpiece. If I knew who did I'd certainly give them props.
Anyway, I decided this week I'd make it for our office "snack day" to celebrate Christmas. It was just as good as I remember.

It only calls for 5 ingredients.
You put them all into a bowl and

mix together.

Form into a ball and serve with graham crackers. So easy and so yummy.

The hardest part is getting everything to mix together. It takes a little while but stick with it.

Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

8 oz cream cheese

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 c. powdered sugar

1 pkg mini chocolate chips

Mix together, form into a ball, and chill at least 2 hours.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend Josh and I headed to Mt. Magazine to attend his cousin's wedding. We were both really excited about this wedding because it would be the first time we had been back since OUR wedding. For those of you who have read this blog for a while now know that Josh and I got married at the same place September 19, 2008. It's so wonderful up there. The views are spectacular. This weekend, being winter and all (well not technically until this week but who cares) the view wasn't quite the same. You couldn't see the mountains or into the valley BUT you could see the....

...clouds. They were below us. It was so neat.
Josh, his mom, and sister before the wedding started.

Josh and his cousins. His other cousin Ashley hadn't arrived yet. Logan, the groom is on the right. He's the youngest boy of the cousins so it was a little surreal seeing him get married.

This is Ronette and I. She's married to one of Josh's cousin. Her little girl Emersyn will be Sadie's other girl cousin on Josh's mom's side. In fact they'll only be a year apart. We are hoping to make a point to get our girls together as much as possible.

Eventually we all braved the cold and found our seats outside. Luckily the weather wasn't just awful. It was very cold but the wind wasn't too severe and the ceremony wasn't long.

Here's Amy, another cousin's wife, and her little boy Till. He was so funny. He spent the first part of the ceremony gathering rose petals and throwing them over the ledge. That is until his grandmother came and snatched him up.

The bride and groom pouring the "unity" sand. I'm sure there's a better name for it but I'm drawing a blank.

This picture makes me laugh. It shows just how close Tanner, the best man, was to the action. It was pretty much the 4 of them at the center of everything.

After the ceremony I wanted to make sure to get a picture with Josh where we were married a couple years ago. I hope we can come back and get lots of pictures here in the future. We'll bring Sadie next year. :)

This is Josh's sister. I try not to get my picture taken with really skinny girls but it couldn't be helped. :) She's just too cute and I had to get our picture together.

After the ceremony we headed over to the reception. This was my favorite decoration.

The Christmas tree was so pretty! And after the reception everyone was able to pick an ornament to take home.

The cake. It was yummy.

Centerpiece

Josh and his buddy, Till. Till loves when I take pictures of him because he likes to look at them afterwards.

This is Josh's mom with her two sisters (who are twins) and their parents.

Ashley and Sara

This is just a random picture of mine and Josh's coffee. Mine is on the right and Josh's is on the left. He likes LOTS of cream and sugar. I guess that's how he's always able to make me flowers.

Josh's centerpiece. A masterpiece, really.

The groom and his momma

It was so much fun hanging with Josh's cousins. They are all hilarious.

Last but not least, the bride and groom. Congrats Logan and Crystal. We love you!

After leaving Mt. Magazine we stopped by the square in Paris to look at the lights.

Here's the courthouse where Josh and I got our marriage license. It was so pretty.

Then Josh was sweet enough to drive me by some of my favorite lights on the way home.

This is the bridge in Clarksville that I've driven over many times. This picture doesn't do it justice. It's so pretty with all the lights.

And my favorite place to go by around the holidays is this house...

...with no particular theme or anything. They have so many things going on here that it makes me laugh. And again, this picture doesn't do it justice. It's really a sight to behold. And a perfect ending to our tour of lights.