Happy Birthday Candice!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Candice!!

Happy Birthday to you!!

OHH I cannot say enough about this girl!! We have had some of the best times together!  She was one of my first friends on the cheerleading squad at WFR and oh how I missed her when she went off to college at ECU!  Now that we are both home we don't see each other as much as we would like, but when we do get together we pick up right where we left off!!  As most of you know, my dad calls me Lucy.  When Candice and I became such good friends in high school, my dad began calling her Ethel! To this day, she will ALWAYS be Ethel to my daddy!!

Happy Birthday Candice!! I hope your Birthday is Special!

Wordless Wednesday: Trigger in Front of the Christmas Tree

Christmas Goodies

 Every year at Christmas, my mom, Granny, and I get together and make homemade Christmas goodies.  We eat these goodies from a few days before Christmas until they are GONE which is normally after New Years.  We definitely have our family favorites.  We enjoy orange balls, peanut brittle, peanut butter squares, spoon dipped chocolate fudge, peanut butter pinwheels, and many others!  I love this time that I get to spend with my mom and granny!  Family traditions are so much fun and one of my favorite things about the holidays!

 Pouring the chocolate to make the peanut butter squares

 Granny is rolling up the peanut butter pinwheels, and I am smoothing out the chocolate on top of the peanut butter squares

  Licking spatulas! Does this ever get old??

We had such a fun time together!  Already looking forward to next year!

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Thomas!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Aunt Lucy and Uncle Jake love you very much!!  We cannot believe you are already ONE!! We had such a fun time at your birthday party on Saturday! We hope you have a great day!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mama!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Mama!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Today is my mama's birthday!  I love my mama!  She is one of the most wonderful ladies in this whole world! I think she is pretty much super woman.  Since I have been married, I have realized how much my mama really does!  She cooks, cleans, grocery shops, is involved in many groups at church, kept up with our family schedules, all while working full time!! I still have so much to learn from her!  

Happy Birthday Mama!! 

We love you!  

Christmas Dishes

Growing up, starting the day after Thanksgiving we put our regular dishes away and started using our Christmas dishes for a month!  I could not WAIT to bring OUR Christmas dishes out and use them for the first time!  My dishes are special to be because my Granny has given me something for my kitchen every year since I was born.  I have had my Christmas dishes since I was in 6th grade and have never used them!   

 First dishwasher load of Christmas Dishes

Our first meal on our Christmas dishes!  Naturally it would be left over Ham from Thanksgiving!! 

I really look forward to using these all year round and for many years to come!

Our First Tree!!!

Oh the anticipation of decorating our first tree together!  Celebrating Christmas together is one of the things I looked forward to the most after getting married.  I have been buying Christmas decorations for about four years after Christmas so we would be ready to decorate our first place together.  We decided to keep some of both of our families traditions while decorating.  We had Chili for dinner, goodies while we decorated, played Christmas music, hung ornaments that were special to jake and me, and enjoyed time together!  

First we had to pick out our tree!  We chose to go to a small Christmas tree lot near our apartment and we had so much fun trying to decided which tree would fit best in the space we had picked out!

 Chili is our Christmas Bowls

 Christmas Goodies:  Christmas M&Ms (Peanut and Plain), Marshmallows, peanuts, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cinnamon Rolls, Mellow Yellow, and Cherry Pepsi.  

 My handsome husband putting on the lights

 Finally time to decorate!! I really had fun decorating our first tree together in our PJs!  Oh how I love Christmas traditions we are creating together! 

The finished product!!!  I love the way our first tree turned out!!! 

Christmas Decorations

It is FINALLY after Thanksgiving and it is time to pull out the Christmas decorations!!!  I have been buying Christmas decorations after Christmas for the past 4 years and we are loaded!! I have not paid full price for any of my decorations and I am proud to say everything I bought was at least 50% off!  I did not realize how much space boxes full of Christmas decorations would take up until they were sitting in the middle of our floor in our apartment.  Here is the beginning of our Christmas decorating.... 

Once everything is up I'll post pictures of the finished product!

Thanksgiving 2012

This Thanksgiving was very different for me.  This was the first holiday that I did not spend with my family, so it was a little bittersweet.  We had so much fun hanging out at the Farm with the Goetze family at their farm in Virginia.  The food was delicious and spending time with so many family members was wonderful!     

The Farm

 Our first Thanksgiving EVER spent together!! 

In August, we got Cows at the farm.  All of them are pregnant and around Thanksgiving a couple of them were due.  Jake and I stayed at the farm until Sunday and the first calf was born on Monday!!  This was the first time that Jake and I had seen the cows and were hoping one of the babies would be born while we were there.  

Overall it was a great break as we both had 3 days off of work and it was a great Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Pie

Jake and I were asked to bring a pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving at the farm this year.  I have never baked a homemade pie before (Mrs. Smith is my best friend!  Love her apple pies.).  I immediately called my Granny and asked for her help.  She said she had never baked a pumpkin pie either, but she would figure something out.  I called her again and asked her for the ingredient list and she said not to worry about anything!! She would buy everything that needed for the pie!  

So we started making our pie and we had so much fun spending time together in the kitchen.  We make a pretty good team!     

 Almost Ready!!!

The finished product!! YUM!

Happy Birthday Grandma B!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday Grandma B!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Grandma B we love you and we hope you have a wonderful day!! We are so thankful to have you in our lives!! We really enjoy spending time with you!!!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

Happy Birthday Vanessa!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Vanessa!

Happy Birthday to you!

Vanessa was one of the first girls I met when I went to college (Other than my roommate Katrine).  We were in almost every class together and had MANY study dates!! Not only did we study together we did many bible studies, and we lived on the same hall our Senior year so we spent much time in each others dorm rooms!  Since our wedding, I have not seen Vanessa, but we have had many chats on the phone! I am so thankful for this girl and her encouraging spirit!

Happy Birthday Vanessa!!! I hope your day is super special!

November 20, 2012

When my birthday finally rolled around, I didn't know what I was going to do.  I did not want to be sitting in a cube at work on my birthday, but I was already asking off the next day for a long Thanksgiving weekend, so I wasn't sure I could ask off on my actual birthday.  I knew this birthday was going to be totally different than any I before, but I still wanted to enjoy it.  I would not be spending this birthday with friends because they were either at work or at school.  This was a weird thought because I normally was in class on my birthday and I was around a bunch of people.  I was excited about my birthday, but I just didn't know what it was going to be like.  

When I was at my parents house the weekend before, I found out that my mama had taken the entire week of Thanksgiving off, so I decided to take off on Tuesday (the 20th) and spend the entire day with her!  So on the morning of my birthday, I woke up early and had breakfast with Jake before he went to work, then I went back to bed.  Next, I woke up, got ready, and met mama for lunch at Los Tres Magueyes, and then we were off to get a Mani/Pedi.  Oh how relaxing and nice it was!  

Next we went to the apartment, gathered all of my things for the farm, including Trigger, and went back to my parents house.  As we waited for Jake and my dad to get home we just hung out!! It was great!  Lastly we had pizza for supper before Jake and I headed to the Farm!  It was a great Birthday and I could not have thought of a better way to spend it than relaxing and girl talking with my mama!

November Birthdays

As our family grows, it is getting harder and harder to celebrate everyone's individual birthday.  We have started having one celebration for that Month.  This time it was November birthdays.  Granny and Janessa share a birthday on November 8th and my Birthday is November 20th.  We had such a great time with family!! It was fun to spend the evening with family!  

The Birthday Girls

 Janessa opening one of her presents 

 Janessa helping granny open her presents

 Janessa helping Aunt Lucy open presents

 Our Cake!! 

 Birthday girls blowing out candles

 Licking the candles is one of the best parts!!!

 Janessa turned 3!! (Notice the 3 Candle)

Granny and Me

This was such a fun way to celebrate our birthday!! I am so thankful for family and how much fun we have spending time together!!  I am so glad I share a birthday with my Granny and my Niece! 

Wordless Wednesday: Where's Trigger?

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to Elizabeth!

Happy Birthday to you!!

Elizabeth I am so thankful for you!! We have had many awesome times together and I am so glad that even though we don't get together as much as we would like, we can pick up right where we left off!! As I think back to high school, some of my craziest pictures are with you!! Thank you for being such a wonderful friend!!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth! I hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

Hunting

My man LOVES to hunt, fish, ride four wheelers, etc.  He just loves to be outdoors!  Just about every Saturday for the past month, he has gotten up and been in a field somewhere between 5-6 AM! (YES AM).  One particular morning, I woke up with a text telling me he shot two does!! With his brothers help, they cleaned and took both deer to the processor.  I am so thankful for this because we now have a freezer full of deer steaks, sausage, and burger!  AWESOME!

On Veteran's Day, Jake had off work and my brother did not have to be at work until 11:00 AM.  Can you guess what they decided to do?? GO HUNTING!! Scott spent the night at our apartment and they got up and left around 4:30 AM!! (Is it really that much fun???) They shot a Cow Horn Buck.  This means the buck's antlers did not branch out.  There were two that went straight out.  Pretty cool!  

Going for a Walk

Trigger LOVES to go on walks!  When we are not home, Trigger stays in the bathroom with a baby gate.  I try to come home a few times a week for lunch and take him on walks or just get him out and play with him for a few minutes so that he is not stuck in the bathroom all day!  This is especially true when we have another activity in the evening like AWANA or something!   

When we get ready to go, I ask him, "Trigger do you want to go on a walk?" and he will run/scamper over to wear we keep his leash and look up at it!  It is the cutest thing!  Then we put on his harness (it looks like a life jacket!).  When we first got him, he did not like putting on his harness.  I do not unclip the top part and I make him put his head through the hole and then I velcro the part around his mid section.  Now, I sit on my knees and he puts his front two paws on my knees and pokes his little nose through the hole!  It is too cute!  

Most times when we take Trigger on a walk, we are trying to get some energy out so we can watch a movie or something.  Depending on whats going on that night, we will power walk or jog and he is super excited to do either.  We also use this time as training so he will learn to let Jake or me set the pace instead of pulling on the leash (but we sometimes still have trouble with this depending on how excited he is). 

He is such a good boy and is learning very quickly!! I am so thankful that we picked a puppy that WANTS to please us and is not stubborn.  

 I sure do love my Trigger Boy!

Mama's Chili

With this cold weather, I am ALL about soups.  One day last week we had a day that was a little warm, but I had planned to cook chili for supper.  I was a little disappointed because I do not like soup or chili when it is warm outside.  Thankfully it gets pretty cold in the evenings and we have our heat set on 65 so its pretty cold in our apartment too!  It was the perfect evening for chili!  I have tried other people's chili, but my mama's is my favorite! 

Mama's Chili

(~3 servings)

1 Pound of Hamburger (browned and drained)

1 Can of Progresso Tomato Basil Soup

1/8 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of Ketchup

1/2 package of chili powder

1 can of Pinto Beans

Mix all ingredients together until desired warmth.  Top with cheese and sour cream is desired.  

DINNER IS SERVED!

We decided to have grilled cheese sandwiches with our chili! 

YUMMY!!!

Sleepy Trigger

Sunshine Award

Hello everyone!! I am been awarded the Sunshine Award by Rebecca at Rebecca's Random Ramblings.

Here are the rules: 

1.  Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them.

THANKS REBECCA!!! (The link is above)

2.  Place the Sunshine Award on your Blog.

(here it is)

3.  Answer the questions about yourself that can be found on the blog of the person that nominated you.

4.  Nominate others for the award!

So.. Here we go!

1.  What is your favorite Holiday Movie? 
Well.. I'm going to be honest... I LOVE all Hallmark holiday movies.  If there is a turkey or a christmas tree in it and the two main characters are in love by the end of the movie... Its a favorite!  But I guess if I had to pick just one... It would be Elf.  When Jake and I started dating in 2006 we watched Elf together around Christmas and it instantly became a tradition.  Every year since we pick a night and watch Elf together!

2.  What is your favorite flower?  
A Gerbera Daisy is my favorite flower.  I love how bright and happy they are!! 

3.  What is your favorite Drink?
Mountain Dew! At work we call it my Liquid Encouragement!

4.  What is your passion?
I love being a wife, learning how to be a better wife, training Trigger, and planning for our future.  So I guess my passion is family!  I love to be surrounded with current family and planning for future family members! :o)

5.  What is your favorite time of the year?
My favorite time of the year is from my birthday (November 20th) through New Years!  It may be because thats the time period we are in right now, but I just LOVE and enjoy this time of year so much!  It means being surrounded with family and doing family traditions!!  I am really looking forward to starting new traditions with Jake!

6.  What is your favorite time of the day?
My favorite time of the day would have to be after we have eaten supper and after all the dishes are finished being washed.  At this point, we normally go to the couch and either watch a movie or a funny show on TV.  We finally get to relax after a long day at work and cooking/cleaning up from supper!

7.  What is your favorite physical activity?
I love to dance!  I do not have much rhythm, but it sure is more fun than going to the gym and lifting weights or running.  I am a HUGE fan of Zumba!  I also enjoy doing aerobics.  This isn't really dancing, but it is done to music and has "steps".  Anything that is fast paced, has music, doesn't feel like working out but am having fun, and I am burning calories... I'm in!

8.  What is your favorite vacation spot?
My newest and most favorite vacation spot would have to be where we went on our Honeymoon, the Excellence Resort in Playa Mujeres, Mexico!  OH MY WORD!  I have never been to an All Inclusive Resort before, but I really hope we can one day afford to go back!! It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been!

I hope all of you enjoyed learning a little about me!!  So now it's time for me to nominate my followers for the Sunshine Award!!

Hannah @ Days With Dante

Lauren @ Life As A Wife

Tara @ The Dew Family

Pampered Chef Product LOVE!

If you brown a lot of hamburger, you NEED the Pampered Chef Mix N' Chop!  IT IS WONDERFUL!!! Here is a little random fact about Lauren, I cannot STAND to get my hands dirty!! This is extremely true while I am cooking.  Growing up, I would watch my mama pull the hamburger out of the freezer, defrost it, and then open the package.  Next, she would crumble the hamburger into small pieces and put it in the frying pan.  Handling the meat is not what gets me, its the greasy film that is left on your hands after touching the uncooked meat.  The Mix N' Chop allows you to put the entire amount of uncooked meat in the pan and as it is cooking you separate it.  The meat NEVER has to touch your hands!!  Thank you Pampered Chef for this awesome cooking tool!

My College Girls

I LOVED college and these girls definitely had a lot to do with it!  Before we graduated and all decided to go our separate ways, we decided to do one more girly get together!!  

We went to this sweet little restaurant called Mary's Cottage.  It was pretty neat and we all enjoyed getting dressed up and hanging out together!

 Next we walked around downtown and took pictures together!  Oh how I miss these girls and wished I didn't live so far away from all of them!

I am so thankful for each of these girls and the role they played in making my college experience one of the best ones I could ever have imagined!!