Monday, December 15

Monday post time!


Our weekend kicked off with a bang Friday night at our Christmas party. We had SO much fun hanging out, eating tons of great food and playing games. We played Balderdash and Telephone Pictionary- both games I would highly recommend in a group! I forgot how much I love to play games, but I've been reminded several times here lately. Christmas break will be full of games, needless to say.

Anna and Kristin even stopped by- even clad in all their tacky sweater glory.



Of course, David wore his classic Christmas outfit- cousin Eddie.

Tacky Christmas outfits galore!



I'm obsessed.

So, we had a great time with great friends. We'll do it again- and not even wait for a holiday. Saturday morning we got up and headed south. We went to Columbus to see Greg as a pirate in Peter Pan at the Springer. And... here's the only picture from the play I took that you can see anything in. Need.... new.... camera.....

Greg was rocking a sweet mullet, and he was hilarious. Overall, it was such a good play! There were tons of kids there and it was a huge success.

It was really great to be with my family and we tried to take advantage of it. We spent most of the 24 hours we were there in conversation, and it was great. I'm blessed by a family that is totally honest with each other- sometimes (ok, oftentimes) to a fault :). But we get things taken care of by talking them out- even if it takes hours and hours. That's the great thing about family though- in the end, you always still love each other. Always.

All in all, you can chalk it up to another great weekend :).

Now, the countdown begins... only 4 more days (after today) of work until Christmas break! I have tons planned to do (ok, not tons, but lots of fun people to spend time with).

not much to report

Sorry my blog has been pretty inactive this week. Here are a few highlights:

• "Bible study" (time that me, Becca, Sarah and sometimes Alex set aside to spend with each other). We picked a book to start reading together- Feminine Appeal.
• Date night with the Rochas at Big River- and watching Richie Rich afterwards (yes, Richie Rich... it was awesome)
• Rain like I haven't seen in a long time. Torrential downpours. I definitley should have been at home, in my pjs in front of the fire place with a book (instead of at work).
• Amazing package. The Rocha's (Keith's parents) sent us 4 authentic Chicago pizzas!! It was SO sweet of them and we are so thankful!
• Wrapping, packing and baking.
• Anticipation of our tacky sweater Christmas party (tonight) and going to Columbus to see Peter Pan (tomorrow).

Happy Friday!!

good times

First of all, look at this baby. It doesn't get much cuter than this! We keep telling her to enjoy that double chin while everyone thinks its cute because later in life it won't be nearly as much fun.

Oh, and Emily and David love Kate. Hopefully she'll know that before she even learns how to read.

Speaking of cute...

Love all of these boys! Seriously, David is blessed with some great friends (and they let me hang out sometimes too :)).

PS- John Bryant, you are still in my pocket :)

I hate leaves.

So, another great weekend has come and gone. I don't think we've had a sub-par weekend yet. That's pretty incredible. I know I say this a lot (though probably not often enough), but marriage is the most amazing gift EVER. I hope I always feel that way and I don't get bogged down by what I'm sure will be a crazy life one day (with kids and all). David and I just have SO much fun hanging out together. Friday night we turned down an opportunity to go to yet another dress up function with good food (for free) because we had plans. Our plans consisted of: making dinner, making food for the weekend, wrapping presents and watching Braveheart on DVR. I'm so glad we stuck to our plan! It was awesome.

Saturday we ventured out into the busy world of Christmas consumerism to tackle some gift buying. Like I've mentioned before- I really do enjoy buying gifts for people. Plus, since I love lists so much, Christmas gift buying is super fun for me. However, Christmas gift buying (or shopping of any sort) is not nearly as fun when you bring (against your will) your husband along. I love the kid to death and like I mentioned before, we have so much fun together, but man it was work. He finally found someone to text with and that kept him content for a while, but I think he's learned his lesson that when I say "I'll just go by myself"- it's probably for the best.

After nearly 4 hours of running errands, we cleaned the house and had people over! David had invited some guys over to watch the FL/AL game, so Becca and I made plans of our own. I'm teaching Becca how to sew and she had the perfect project. We made the Rochas the cutest tree skirt! I can't wait to see it in action (and I'll take some pictures of it). It was fun having craft time (I worked on some home-made gifts while she worked on the tree skirt) while the boys watched football. Later that night Becca took me with her to her Bunco group. It was really fun to play and I even won $6! I just love Becca- we had so much fun and we laughed our heads off about something no one else thought was funny. It's so fun to have best friends!

Church was ah-maze-ing. Calvary Chapel is the bomb dot com. Yesterday was the last Sunday that the church will meet in Memorial Auditorium (where they've met for 4 years) because their new building is finished and church will be there next week! The service lasted for 2 hours, but no one could have cared less. The whole service was dedicated to the telling of the churches "God story" and it was so cool to see how God has truly blessed this fellowship into an incredible ministry in Chattanooga. David and I are just itching to get in there and be involved.

And now to the point of my title... I hate leaves. Sunday afternoon meant yard work. We had several feet of leaves piled up all around our house (ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it was a lot) and it was time to get rid of them. I don't know why I volunteered to help. First of all, it was freezing cold outside. David couldn't stop laughing at me because I was SO bundled up I could hardly move. Secondly, I hate raking leaves and moving them. Kind of like David volunteering to help with the shopping... I learned my lesson. We each have our own unique skills and abilities and apparently mine have nothing to do with manual labor.

rainy day

It's a rainy, rainy day and I'm ok with that. I'm really enjoying that most of the people in my office are not here and it's really quiet. Yesterday was our United Way Auction and it was mayhem. Total chaos. The event was completely disorganized and boy did it stress me out. I'm glad today is providing some down time.

Speaking of down time, since I have some, I figured I'd fill out this little Christmas quiz about myself. Enjoy!

1.Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. I try to stock up on all things Christmas post-season when they are really cheap, and wrapping paper is one of those things. Though this year I did spring for a roll of Sally Foster since Hayden was selling it.
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial. Beth's hand-me-down which we are thankful for. It's a little threadbare, but it works for now :)
3. When do you put up the tree? We don't have a "usual" yet, but the plan is to do it as soon after Thanksgiving as we possibly can.
4. When do you take the tree down? probably New Year's Day since we're both off work.
5. Do you like eggnog? Nope.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I'll second Em Rozell's answer and say my Molly American Girl doll
7. Hardest person to buy for? David! If anyone has any ideas- I'm all ears!
8. Easiest person to buy for? my Dad- when he provides a list of books he wants :)
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep- you already saw it!
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! They are almost ready to go and I'm so excited! I LOVE Christmas cards, and I hope people send us theirs :) (hint, hint)
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? One year my dad went out on a limb and bought clothes for me and Ashley for Christmas... it was a bad idea. Best gift (I added that part)- my pearl ring that was my Aunt Louise's
12. Favorite Christmas Movies? Easy. Christmas Vacation.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? whenever I see something good. One day I'd love to really have an idea of what people want early so I can get it done, but I really enjoy buying for others so it's not stressful.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I honestly don't think so... I try to be pretty sensitive to that because I think it's so rude and tacky. We were the recipients of several re-gifted wedding presents...
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cider (drink, but still)
16. Lights on the tree? Of course! white ones! Oh, and we'll never not have a pre-lit tree. What an brilliant invention.
17. Favorite Christmas song? Silent Night. Mostly because it automatically makes me picture Pierce Chapel, lights off, the whole chapel full of people holding their lit candles in the air as we end the Christmas Eve service
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. We mostly traveled to Round Hill when I was growing up and now David and I will either be traveling to Georgia or Ohio every year (GA this year)- until we have kids. Once we have kids, Christmas can come to us :).
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I thought so, but I tried and was way off.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star. 50% off at Hobby Lobby!
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Although we do open our Christmas pajamas Christmas eve. Yep, grown adults, but still getting Christmas pjs.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? people who decorate their houses with a ridiculous amount of stuff and the notion that you need to say "Happy Holidays" to be pc
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? Since David and I are just starting our decor collection, it's looking like it will be the red/gold thing. My favorite ornament has always (since I was little) been this gold angel thing with my name and birth date/time/weight. I think I liked it when I was little because of the way it lit up when the lights reflected off it.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? the usual. Though my family does eat at Waffle House on Christmas Eve :)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? nothing fancy... we have already gotten SO much this year that there's nothing left that we need!

Christmas decor

Last night was Christmas decorating time! I have been looking forward to this since... well since last Christmas I'm sure! We rushed home from work and immediately started at it. We don't have much nice Christmas stuff, mostly hand-me-downs (which is awesome), but we refuse to buy anything new when the day after Christmas everyone will be practically giving everything away in the stores. We'll buy new stuff then :)

This is my favorite element of our Christmas decorations: our Willow Tree nativity scene. My awesome brother has been buying me pieces of this set for several years now, and I LOVE it. In fact, when I started putting it out last night, I realized there was a box I hadn't opened yet. I totally forgot that he gave me new pieces last Christmas! I love the camel and all of the other new animals. Thanks, GG!

Tree pre-ornaments. I forgot to take a picture post-ornaments... oops.

So, I have to make a confession. Last year after Christmas, I found this tree skirt (which looks pink, but is actually maroonish... have I mentioned how terrible my camera is?) and matching stockings for like $2 at Wal-Mart, so I couldn't resist. I also couldn't resist getting them all embroidered- even though we weren't even engaged yet. So yes, I've had these fun Christmas decorations all this time, just waiting to be used!

Here's another new favorite. I don't think it's technically an ornament (it's kind of big), but that's what we're using it for. Again, Wal-Mart (sorry, Denise) special right here. I ordered it off-line and it has little pictures and the names of our wedding party! I love it too!

I just love Christmas ornaments! David and I don't have a ton, but we're working on our collection. My mom gave me a lot of the ones that were mine as a kid, so that's helped out (Cathy- we meant to ask you for some of those too :)). Also, we have been trying to document these fun new times in our lives with ornaments because it's such a neat tradition to put them up every year and think about all of the memories past. So, here is "Our First Christmas Together" ornament (compliments of James and JaNell Frisby!) and "Our New Home" ornament :). We want to get a Samford ornament and an EKU one (hint, hint...).

I can't help but smile every time I walk through the living room and see it all lit up.

Oh- and Todd came over to help share the Christmas cheer (or something like that :)!

Thanksgiving recap

What a wonderful long weekend! I'll have to say once again... I think every weekend should be a long one. Not only did we have a break from work for 4 straight days, but we had time to make the trek to Oxford, Ohio to visit all of the Geyer family. It was so, so good.

So now, as per usual, it is time for my Monday morning update (and it's going to be a long one, I'm afraid).

We were so thankful that both of our bosses let us leave work early on Wednesday so we could hit the road! We avoided most traffic and made great time getting into Oxford. After visiting with David's parents for a while, we all hit the hay. Though it's virtually impossible to sleep in past sunrise at the Geyer's (there are no blinds on any windows), just being there is such a retreat for us. Since Cathy had to work on Thanksgiving day, we planned to celebrate on Friday. That meant David and I had plenty of time to relax on Thursday! We even ate Thanksgiving lunch at the hospital with Cathy! We also went ahead and gave Brianna her Christmas present, so we could be there to enjoy it. And boy were we glad we did! We gave her a Snow White costume, and she barely took it off all weekend. She LOVED it.

Also on Thursday we got to hang out with one of David's best friends- Mike- and his family. It's always so fun seeing and catching up with good friends, and Mike, Ellen and Rick are definitely those friends!

Friday was SO much fun. We started early with by getting out the four-wheeler out and going for a ride. We were hoping to be able to take Brianna with us, and to our surprise she was all for it! David went really slowly and carefully, but that wasn't enough fun for Bri- she kept telling him to go faster! So, we even took her across the creek and all through the woods! She's a pretty fearless 3 year old, which made it so fun for us!

All bundled up... all pink!

Man, David loves that little girl! She loves him a lot too :)

Taking a break for a self-portrait. See the elation on that little face?! (Good thing I asked for those ear muffs for Christmas 2 years ago!)

Grandma stopped us to take a picture of us all squished on there. We had a Brianna sandwich going on to keep her safe and warm.

And while we were out, I took a picture of the ever-growing wood pile... check that mound out. It literally is as large as the footprint of our house!

So after we took a break from riding the four-wheeler, we got ready and all of the family showed up! There were 21 family members there- even a few I hadn't met yet! We ate and ate and then sat around and talked for hours.


David's cousin Tonhy (not a typo- that's how he spells his name) is living in Ohio for a little while in between life plans, so he spent some time with us! I was so glad to meet him and Brianna loved playing with "Aunt Tonhy"!

Andy even stopped by!

Brianna LOVES Andy!

Do we look full and tired or what?! This is me (obviously), Brianna, Cathy, Beth, Grandma (who might actually be asleep) and Lynn (behind the couch). I'm so thankful for family that are great friends too!

Check out these cuties! I hadn't seen Matthias in a long time, and he's grown up SO much! He and Brianna are 5 months apart, and they had so much fun playing together.

And... a picture of model Brianna. This was after she literally blow dried my hair and played in my makeup bag while I got ready. She's such a girlie girl :)

Even after most of the family had left on Friday, Tonhy stayed and we played Sequence until we all were ready to crash (ok, I was ready to quit because I had lost so many games). It was SUCH a fun day full of fun people, good food and great conversations.

Saturday was just as fun! We intended to relax, eat leftovers, play games, and relax some more. We did all of that! We even surprised Tonhy by going to eat lunch at Texas Roadhouse where he's working. The cousins:

Saturday night, David and I taught Cathy, Beth, Jayme and Grandma to play Settlers of Catan. I wish I had taken pictures of that experience! We laughed SO much and mostly had a great time (I say mostly because half of the group playing hated the game and didn't want to play about half way in).

So, we went to church Sunday morning and enjoyed Cobblestone's new building for the first time. Immediately after church, we got on the road. And we stayed on the road for 2 hours longer than we should have. It literally rained the entire drive back. We got stuck in at least 4 wrecks and other bumper-to-bumper traffic kept us going slowly pretty much the whole way. David was super stressed out and we were both ready to just BE home! So, when we finally did, we nixed our plans to decorate for Christmas and just relaxed, did the laundry and went to bed early to prepare ourselves for another week of work.

And... here's the only picture of me and David from the weekend...

I couldn't be more thankful to have him as my husband. He's the best. Ever.

So, mark another fabulous Thanksgiving with the Geyers off the to do list. We have so much to be thankful for, let's try to not let that slip our minds as the seasons passes.