Merry Christmas and Happy New Year....a little late!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. We had a great time and can't wait to see what the new year has in store for us. I was off of work for two weeks...woo hoo! I have had a two week Christmas break for the past 7 years and I couldn't imagine not having it...maybe that's why I continue to work in education.

I spent a lot of the two weeks in Dothan visiting family. I'm not a good wife, because I left my sweet husband in Auburn all alone to fend for himself. Anthony works incredibly long hours during this time of year and I WAS NOT going to spend my vacation alone. I spent the first week at my parent's house. It is always good to visit family, but I must admit I like being a my own house too. My mother is definitely the queen of her castle and I was anxious to get back the house where I reign.

On Christmas day we went to four houses. Christmas morning was spent with the Wares, lunch with the Yelvertons, dinner with the McElroys, and dessert with the Thomas family....I was exhausted, but glad to see everyone. Christmas this year was a little different not having some cherised loved ones there, but we made it through and managed to have a little fun in the process. On the day after Christmas, we went to visit Anthony's grandmother in Birmingham.

New Year's was low key. We went out to a nice dinner and to a movie. We went to see It's Complicated....Anthony choice, but I'm sure he did it for me. It was a very cute movie and I laughed almost the entire time.

2009 was certainly a year of change for us. We got married, I changed jobs, we moved, my grandmother and Anthony's mother passed...HOWEVER, we made it through all of that and are stronger because of it. I am looking forward to a wonderful 2010 and all of the blessings that the Lord has in store for us!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!


Our First Christmas!


The family!


My mom, sister, and brother all got new ipods for Christmas...I didn't...I was a good girl this year I promise!

No more sad stuff!

We have had enough of sad times this past few months. I am praying that there will not be any more sad stuff to blog about for a VERY long time!

Anthony and I had a great Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving this year was at our house. So his Dad, brother, sister, niece and nephew came to Auburn to celebrate with us. Anyone who knows me realizes that I am not a domestic goddess. So I drove all the way to Dothan the day before Thanksgiving to pick up our Thanksgiving dinner that my mom prepared for us. Thanks Mom...you are a lifesaver!

Eventhough all I had to do was put the dressing in the stove to cook and warm up the collard greens...I still had a little trouble. Apparently, I put too much dressing in the pan and it FOREVER to cook it. I called my mom (several times) to ask her what I should do...she finally called my sister-in-law and told her to help me...LOL!

Thankfully we will be in Dothan for Christmas so no more kitchen mishaps for me on the next holiday.

I was crazy enough to go to Wal-Mart on black Friday at 3 a.m. with my brother-in-law and niece and nephew. It was crazy, but successful. I didn't even buy anything, but he did!

After a nap, I watched the Iron Bowl. Although Auburn didn't win, I must admit I was still pretty proud! WAR EAGLE!!!! Anthony and I got a real Christmas tree (after much compromise....I wanted a real and he wanted a fake one). You should have seen us with a 7-8 ft. Christmas tree on top of the Durango driving around Auburn. Of course we didn't just go straight home after buying the tree...we drove around town looking like the Griswold's from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

I am excited about Christmas and looking forward to the new year!

She will be missed!

My mother-in-law passed away on Friday, November 6th. She was only 51 years old and was a wonderful person. The family is missing her dearly. Mrs. Ware was one of those people who always made you feel comfortable and like family in her home. She loved to cook (and was really good at it). I have always been so impressed by her love for her family. She was the best mother Anthony, Dana, and William could have asked for. Mrs. Ware was always involved at their schools and NEVER missed an activity they were in. She was also a loving grandmother. It was always so nice to see the bond between her and her grandkids. One of the things I am most inspired by is the relationship that my mother-in-law and father-in-law had. I admire their devotion and love for one another and I can only pray that Anthony and I will have as strong a marriage (and as long) as they did.

I feel so blessed to have had her as my "second mom" for so long. I first met her when Anthony and I were in the 5th grade. I spent almost every weekend hanging out at their house during high school and college. One of the things that made me fall even more in love with Anthony was his family. There are not many families that stick together like theirs. Mrs. Ware has the nicest and most welcoming Mother and Siblings....I have truly been blessed to be able to be a part of such a wonderful family.

While I am sad that we will not have her here with us. I am happy that she is with our heavenly father and that we will get to see her again one day.


Mrs. Ware at my bridal shower


The Ware Family

Things that make you go hmmm?!

Not much is going on in our world. We are just working (way too many hours a week), but we are so blessed to have jobs in this tough economy. Thank you Lord!

I will admit that I watch too much television...trash tv to be exact. So I often find myself thinking about things that are not necessarily important and certainly don't have an effect on my daily life. However, I also think a lot about things that do have a direct effect on me. Here are few things that have been occupying my mind lately:

1. Jon & Kate Gosselin- I HATE Jon Gosselin. Maybe hate is a little too strong (considering I have never even met him), but I really dislike him. It drives me crazy when people let fame rule their lives. He is such a whiner. I'm am so sick of hearing how mean and nasty Kate is. I am really mean and nasty sometimes too....and I don't have EIGHT kids. So what if she isn't the most pleasant person...suck it up Jon! I stopped watching the show when they announced they were separating. It just changed the whole show for me and I couldn't watch this family be torn apart.



2. Bridezilla! Why is someone actually marrying these women? Don't they know it is hard enough to make a marriage work when both people are sane (at least somewhat sane). I love this show and can't help,but to watch this train wreck.



3. How long is too long? I ask this question only because I am still REALLY grieving over the lose of my Grandma Clara. There isn't a day (an hour really) that goes by that I don't think about her. At least once a week, I find myself in tears over not having her here with us. I know that is so selfish, but I really miss her. My mom says to just "give it time", but I still wonder how long is too long to feel this way?



4. Auburn Football- Now I LOVE my Auburn Tigers, but come on...losing three games in a row is still a little much (even for us avid supporters). Don't get me wrong...I still believe we can salvage this season. All it would take for me is a win on November 27th!!! Although, I would prefer to win a few more between now and then. WDE!!!



5. Tyler. My little brother to be exact. He is just a great kid. He is the best 17-year-old kid I know. I love Tyler so much and I am so proud of him. By the way, he was the leading player in yardage at this week's rivalry high school football game. Tyler plays for my high school's rival (Dothan High School...I went to Northview), but I can't help but to cheer him on! Although I am proud of him athletically, I am most proud of his character. My parents have raised an amazing young man and I feel like he doesn't know just how proud we all are of him. I think being a teenage boy is so much harder than it was for me to be a teenage girl...he has handled it beautifully!



6. Money. Can you ever really have enough? That's all I have to say about that!

Warning: If you are getting married, DON'T register for gifts!

Okay so I know this is going to make me sound ungrateful and I promise that I am not, BUT I feel that it is my duty to warn all of the poor, naive, future brides...DON'T register. Sure registering for gifts is tons of fun when you are doing it. I mean who doesn't love going to a store and making a wish list of things for other people to buy for you. I will admit that you will also feel like a kid at Christmas when gifts start to arrive. It's really great coming home everyday and finding a new gift on your doorstep. That is where the fun ends.

First of all, AFTER writing (by yourself) ten thousand "thank you" notes...you will realize that you have no room to store all of these gifts. You will be newlyweds which means you are POOR. Your house will be way too small for all of these gifts. Now you won't figure this out until your Mom calls you six months after your wedding to let you know that your gifts HAVE to be moved out of her house.

Second, when you finally get around to getting the gifts from your parents house and putting them away....Suddenly you will realize that you have 3 blenders (eventhough you returned tons of stuff)! As a side note: your husband won't be any help in this situation....he will simply say "keep them all" and your reply will be "WHERE?....do you want to store them in the bathtub?"

Third, when you FINALLY find somewhere to store the gifts (in every corner, closet, and under every bed in your house...you will wonder why you even asked for most of these things. I'm sure when you are registering you have some fantasy of being the next Julia Childs or Martha Stewart. After six months, that dream will be gone. You will realize that being a "good" wife has nothing to do with cooking. Let's be realistic, my husband and I both work over 40 hours a week...I am not coming home to make homemade pizza....we will be calling Papa Johns, Dominoes and if he is really lucky (i.e. it is after payday) we will order Pizza Hut.

I know your Moms and Grandmoms have all of these wonderful things that you feel like you MUST have too, but remember they have collected these things over MANY years. Luckily, my Mom doesn't read my blog so she won't be telling me how unappreciative I am. By the way, I truly appreciate all of the gifts we were given...you ALL even got thank-you notes within six weeks after the wedding!

I am reading the book "The Undomestic Goddess"....how appropriate!

P.S. If you want to keep peace in your marriage don't go to Home Depot or Lowe's with your husband. It will just leave you wondering WHY we are passing by 10+ employees and won't ask them where the dryer cords are....you will break down and finally ask yourself...only to hear him say "I knew where they were."

By the way...I really do love my husband, but Men really are from Mars!

Where do I begin?

A lot has happened in my life since my last post on August 1st. I'm not quite sure where to begin with this post. Let's start with the bad news.

On September 1st my grandmother passed away. It all happened very quickly. She was taken to the hospital on August 31st around 11 p.m. and died at 3 p.m. on the 1st. My grandmother was a wonderful lady (I still find it very hard to refer to her in the past tense). She was smart, pretty, loving, strong and determined. It has been really hard losing her. We were very close and I miss her dearly. It's hard to believe that I can't just drop by to see her or call her just to say "hello." The small things have been the hardest. We both were fans of Dancing With the Stars. When it premiered this season I just couldn't stand to watch. Usually, one of us would call after every show just to talk about the dances...who we liked, who we didn't like and usually my grandmother would talk about how "inappropriate" the outfits or dances were. My grandmother was ALWAYS a lady! The only peace I can find in this situation is that she lived a wonderful life. She lived long enough to see her chidren and some grandchildren grow up! She had a fabulous career and traveled after retirement. She was able to dedicate time to the causes that she believed in. She LIVED life! I am especially (selfishly) thankful that my grandmother was at my wedding. I was able to share the planning (frustration) with her and the tremendous joy with her! I will ALWAYS miss her, but I cannot even begin to explain how thankful I am to have been able to spend so many years with her.


Grandma and me on my wedding day- April 18th.

Okay, on to some happier news. I got a new job! I am working at Auburn University and I love it. Auburn has always been so special to me and now I get paid to go there every day. I must admit that I am just a little bit tickled that my Alabama Alum husband now resides in Auburn too!

I had been on the hunt for a job for a LONG time. The day my grandmother passed away, I got a call from Auburn with an offer. Some may say that this was a coincidence, but I don't buy it. This was God. I kept wondering why it was taking me so long to find something in the Montgomery/Auburn area. As it turns out God had other plans. He wanted to me to be in Dothan with my grandmother (for both of our sake) until he was ready to separate us. Thank you Lord!


God Bless and War Eagle!!!

Finally a honeymoon post...three months later!

Anthony and I have really enjoyed married life...I wonder what took us so long to do it! I promised (three months ago) to blog about our honeymoon. We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise to Nassau, Bahamas. We had a wonderful honeymoon. We started off by sailing to Coco Cay, Bahamas. Somehow I had the (brief insanity)great idea to go parasailing. I am terrified of heights, but miraculously I LOVED parasailing. The next day we went to Nassau. Nassau was wonderful. It was much better than I remembered it...last time I went it was with my grandparents. I love my grandparents, but the Bahamas was much better with my husband. While in Nassau we rode/drove segways through the rough terrain of the forest. At least, that't what I'll call it.

It was a blast...we ate way tooooo much food...and slept way toooo much, but isn't that what vacation is about. Anthony would really like to go on a cruise each year for our anniversary, but we will have to see how life plays out. Here are some pictures.


I thought we would go broke just paying all of the tolls to get to Cape Canaveral, FL


You have to love the safety drill!


On the hammock in Coco Cay...before parasailing.


The view was amazing...I actually think I may do it again...someday!


In Coco Cay with the ship behind us.


The segways in Nassau


On the deck after dinner one night

I just the love the sunset!


Beautiful...man I wish I was there right now!