Christmastime!

I hope this post finds everyone well, and that you had a Merry Christmas!  I can't believe it is the last day of 2010!

We spent Christmas in Stuart with my parents and we had a great visit!!  I'll tell the story in pictures, because I actually used my camera :)

We flew into Orlando early early in the morning and made the trip to South Florida with AJ & Lianne (they were headed to Miami).  Here's a pic from the almost-sunrise from the plane:

Before Christmas Eve Service with the family:

Mom & Dad

Lyn & Mikey

Derek came along with Julie.  They're cool like this.

And then me and the boo.

 Sister picture.

And the family session:

(Olan Mills version)

After service and dinner with the Perrys, we had a Christmas Eve bonfire with the neighbors.  Me, Sara, and Lyn getting ready to head out back:

Christmas morning was a super-fun time of gift giving!  Here's an example of how excited Aaron gets when opening his gifts:

And this is why we never have pictures of my mom:

I got Aaron a remote control helicopter (that he's been asking for for yearssss).  So my dad went out and bought one for himself so he could join in on the fun.  We heard the buzzing of helicopters for the rest of our time...

In the afternoon, my Uncle Jim, Uncle Dan, Uncle Matt, and Papaw came up from Fort Lauderdale to celebrate with us.  We had an awesome family get-together...it had been too long!

The girls with Papaw:

And then we had a traditional family jam-session.

The whole gang minus Aaron (the photographer)

Random shot, but here's how much I love Stuart.  Here's a guy who is reminding all the snowbirds of the conventional "left lane = fast lane" and "right lane = slow lane".  Classy.

We did all sorts of fun things together during the week besides Christmas-y celebrations.  This included watching White Chicks together (yes, it's our favorite sister movie, don't judge), playing a game of frisbee golf in our yard, and going out to a new dinner place in PSL.

"You were thinking it"..."

I know but you said it!!"

Frisbee!  (Aaron won! But my dad blames it on his red frisbee being from the dollar store...)

Action shot.

 Julie was number 1 at the ring hook game.  And pics of the rest of the crew :)

And then, on our last day in town, the guys went out fishing, so after pondering what to do, the girls decided to conduct an intervention on all of the clutter in Lyn's bedroom and Julie's/my old bedroom.  4 heavy duty bags of trash and 4 bags of stuff for Goodwill later, our house will be ringing in the New Year in a clutter-free fashion!

Goodness gracious!  Lyn even hid crap under a doll bed in the closet!  And Lyn's bed with all of the stuff we were going through!

 We found Carolyn's old clarinet.  She played a little (ear biting) tune for us ;)

Then we found our American Girl Dolls (Felicity, Samantha, & Molly) and all the stuff that went with them!

 And the guys with their catch!  Dinner :)

Julie was nice enough to get up with us at 3:30 am the next morning to take us back to Orlando to fly back home.  We had a great visit!!!  Now we're back home hangin' with the boogie (our puggle, Noa).  Here she is in her little Christmas present from my parents! :)

Thanks for reading!  Happy New Year, everyone!!  

A little time off...

So last night, to celebrate being DONE with the Fall semester, Aaron and I went to go see Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Best. Movie. Ever.  I am blown away by the imagination (that is grounded in Truth) of C.S. Lewis.  But more so blown away by the power of God.

We got there nice and early so that we could get good seats.  It's a shame we ended up having so few choices...hahah

Here we are (still dressed warmly inside because it has been unseasonably FREEZING for the past week)...just before the movie started.

I seriously recommend that you see this movie.  It is so well done and speaks directly to the heart, which so few movies do...in a good way.  The Biblical parallels were a great refresher of the gospel story, which came as a perfect reminder for me during the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

That was yesterday.  Today, I woke up to breakfast made by my awesome husband.  After that I got movin' on a few errands.  

When I went to the grocery store, I walked in and it looked a little like this:

And when I walked out, the parking lot looked like this:

I kinda freaked out a little because Aaron usually does the snow-driving. But I managed to roll Sydney the Solara through the .1 inch of snow that was already on the ground just fine :)  Now I'm just sittin' at home enjoying the winter weather, which, thankfully, is not expected to exceed 3 inches.  Just enough to make it pretty outside.  I'm also counting down to our trip to Stuart for Christmas! Less than 7 days!

Stay warm, folks! 

Annual Hot Chocolate Party

Every year...since sometime near the beginning of college, I have hosted a "bring your own mug" party where we had an open house, hot chocolate, and some fun times with good friends during the month of december...and this year was no exception!

Of course, we had start by decorating our house for Christmas, which we actually did a few weeks ago...but here are a couple pictures of our Christmas tree and village:

We had a great group this year at the "BYOM" party...and we spiced it up by giving little prizes for the mugs people brought.

 Paul, the no-contest winner of "most festive" mug.  And a close up of his prize-winning masterpiece!

Katie's mug got the votes for "most in need of a festive holiday mug"...but I'd say her mug was pretty cute! ;)

And then Brad won "largest mug"

that is, until Dan showed up.

Me and the boo takin' a moment to sit down with friends.

The place where I spent lots of my time...

And the menu!  Cider was surprisingly the hit, so it'll be back next year!

Thanks to all who came and made it a good time!  We are so blessed to have such great friends.  Hoping you continue to have a wonderful holiday season!  CHEERS!