12.31.09 Farewell 2009

"For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." - T.S. Eliot "Little Gidding"

Two-Thousand-Nine has been a year of unforgetable memories. From graduating college to getting married, it has been full of excitement and adventure to say the least.

Here are a few high-lights from 2009

Living with a couple of my child-hood best friends making priceless memories

Making new friends whom we absolutely ADORE (the Andersons)

Driving to Colorado for Spring Break

Graduating from Clemson

Having water in Lake Hartwell so we could actually enjoy it

Staying in Washington State for 10 days with Mere & DP

Getting Engaged to my Best Friend (7.20.09)

Marrying my Best Friend (10.3.09)

Spending a week in Costa Rica

Getting a Tattoo

Spending the holidays with both of our families

12.10 through 12.15

Okay...finally! More Pictures! (:

December 10

Bye-Bye BlackBird

(okay, it's not actually a black bird...but Mike & I just watched Public Enemies recently and that song comes to mind...)

December 11

This cute little guy loves to play on our porch. He does remind me a little of the squirrels at Clemson though ... look at how close I was able to get to him!

December 12

My BEST's first wedding shower -- a Christmas shower! (:

*Bridesmaids (minus Jenna and Allison)

9.25.10

December 13

Melbug's S'MORE hangin' on the Christmas tree!

12.14.09

Ornament Swap

Coffee Underground

Julie, Kristi, Carolyn, Melissa, Whitney, Elizabeth, Jenna, Ashleigh, Me

December 15

My ornament from the swap with the girls! (Thanks Julie, I LOVE it!)

12.28

Welp, now that the Holiday season is over I WILL post more pictures! Mike & I have just come through our *first* married Christmas (and Birthday) season (: We had a blast and fortunately were not too worn down at the end of it all.

Both of our families are amazing, so it was pretty easy for us to split our time between them (and it helps that they are only 10 minutes apart!) We spent the day on Christmas eve with my family...going through the usual "Christmas Eve Routine" (one side for lunch, the other for dinner). On Christmas morning Mike & I woke up and opened gifts with just the two of us. How nice it was! -- even though our Christmas morning was just a simple time with the two of us, we decided we'd make it a tradition now so when we have a family we'll be able to spend that time together in the midst of all the running around. Then, we (and I mean Mike ... he's the waffle maker) made waffles and hung around until about noon when we headed over to spend the day at the Martin house! Gram and Grandmother were there, so we got to spend a little Christmas time with them too! Around 8:30PM or so, we headed over to the McCraw household to see what Santa left for us there and to open family gifts.

My birthday is the 26th...and Oh, how I love My Birthday. We woke up around 9:00 and trecked over to Dunkin' Donuts in our PJs for Birthday Breakfast! (: YUUUMMM! (I think Dunkin' will be a family birthday tradition!) Oh yea, I opened my birthday gifts from Mike first thing...new NIKE running shorts & some "Smart-weezy" socks! We lazed about looking over Christmas gifts and pictures until lunch time when we met both of our families and a few friends for lunch at Sam's in Ft. Inn. After lunch, most of the lunch crowd came to my parents house to shoot shot guns / pistols with us. We shot for most of the afternoon & when it got too cold I took it to the house for a warm shower. Mike, being the sweet husband that he is let me sleep a little while he, my dad & brother cleaned the monster of a pile of guns we'd used. We finished the celebration with family dinner (both sides) at Honey's house. She cooked my favorites: meat loaf, Lima beans, fried okra, apple salad & pound cake with lemon icing!

12.23

New Obsession: Pioneer Woman. (Thank you MaryGene!) I love love love her blog & the Tasty Kitchen section from her web site! (: I can't wait to try some of her recipes...hmmm I'll probably start blowing our grocery budget so I can cook some of them!

Check it out!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Oh, PS: I will post pictures TODAY!! We've just been super busy with all of the holiday bustle....but I'll put them on the computer and upload them today! (:

11.30 through 12.9

11.30.09

Day after Thanksgiving Christmas decorations!

12.1.09

Welcome December, Welcome!

12.2.09

downpour.

12.3

On a walk to pay our rent ... Looked like spring!

12.4

12.5.09

We Did It. And We Are In It To Win It.

12.6.09

Congratulations Ashleigh & Chase! I am so happy & honored to be a part of y'alls BIG DAY!

Love Love Love!

12.7.09

Gettin' in the Christmas Spirit with our holiday napkins (:

12.8.09

More Presents "under" (or should I say Around) the tree!

12.9.09

Happy Birthday Dad!

Makin' Fruit Cake with Mimi & Gram (dad loved it...said it was "Jam Up!")

11-29

More pictures to come when the computer will let me upload them?

11.29.09

Sunday

The last Sunday of November / first Sunday of December my dad's whole side of the family (whoever can make it) gathers at Honey's house for finger foods & good family fellowship (: This is a picture of Honey's snow village that literally takes up the whole back wall in her play room! (It grew about 15% from last year because after Christmas the houses in her collection were marked WA Y and she bought a LOT of them!) We LOVE it. It lights up (obviously) and even has different sounds that go with it!

In It To Win It

Oh man. Yesterday is definitely one for the books. I feel that I must keep track of it because it's already become something that Mike & I are laughing at. "Such is life" was most definitely the motto.

Here goes:

Sunday Mike cleaned his car over at OD & Cat's house. It was a little muddy from our latest off-roading adventure (although recent rains had smeared some of the mud around) -- and needed a little maintenance. The boys (being OD & Mike) drove the car up on the lifty-things and spent all day under the hood & cleaning. The car not only was sparkly clean when they finished but, it ran superbly! (: We made it all the way home with no trembling breaks and no "pulling" feeling (like the E-break was up). All is well, right?!

Monday morning Mike left for work as usual - in his newly polished Edmund & called about 15 minutes later asking if I could come pick him up. Being the new wife that I am, I was a bit concerned - although he didn't sound panicked at all (I'll admit, I thought he'd gotten in a wreck!) Anyway, he had pulled off into the first parking lot he came to because the "engine was coming out of the hood." So I leave the house & pick him up (on an empty tank of gas) -- we stop for gas & head on.

Moving on to after work - I head over to B2B to pick him up & we head to my parents house in Ft. Inn to help dad with the trailer that will be used to pick up Mike's car (still in the parking lot). Totally forgot about the Christmas parade being moved to last night because of the torrential downpour that occur ed last Wednesday! So we're truckin' through the traffic, minding our business when we GET HIT!!! Ugh! I pull the car over, put the flashers on & promptly jump out of the car to check for damage. Other than a few scratches we were okay. HOWEVER, the people that hit us PULLED AWAY. After checking their car, they saw us coming over to check on them and they jumped in and sped off!! Hahahah. Seriously!? Mike and I just laughed. The police car that rode in the parade happened to be coming down the street so we flagged them down & told them what happened So after that is all taken care of, we finally are back on the road to help out with the trailer.

Dinner proceeds without any hitches (which is a blessing in itself seeing how the rest of the day was going!) After dinner Mike, Cayden and dad head down to the shed at Honey's house to weld something onto the trailer. Mike was holding some kind of clamp for dad when a little BB sized pellet of volcanic molten lava hot metal shot over & stuck to his wedding band! (Which was also a blessing in disguise because I'm sure it would have melted straight through his finger.) So he hurriedly pulled off his wedding band to find a nice, large blister ): My poor Mikey. I didn't know about his finger until about 2 hours later because dad called to tell me to be sure to take care of it when Mike got home -- laughing all the while!

So here's to being In It To Win It with You Mike. (: