Back Track...

We have had several things worth noting that I have yet to blog about. So for the sake of my future self looking for memories, I will take a few post and back track.

We spent Thanksgiving 2011 with my family.  I really did not take any pictures, but we had a good time Thanksgiving day eating your traditional Thanksgiving foods.  Well, we had chicken instead of turkey but we did have my Granny's dressing that is a must have every year.  I spent time asking my 90 year old Granny questions like, "Do you remember your first tv?" and "When did you get a washer and dryer?"  We missed my cousin Brooke who lives in NYC and was unable to make it down to Alabama for Thanksgiving.

The day after Thanksgiving my Mom, Sister, and I did go shopping, but not super early. We made it to Anthropologie in time to take advantage of their 50% off sale items sale.  It was definitely some of the best prices I have seen at that normally pricey store so I took advantage of it and got a few items.

The weather over Thanksgiving was perfect so we did spend a lot of time outdoors.  The only pictures I did get were the ones we took at a park.  I took these pictures to get a pictures to use for Christmas card pictures.

On the way back to Birmingham we got caught in the worst traffic I have ever been in.  In 9 miles there were 6 accidents.  All seemed to be minor but it took us 2 hours and 15 minutes to go this 9 miles.

What was exciting was as we approached Sister's apartment to drop her off, JP's car was approaching 200,000 miles.  We stopped to get a pizza to celebrate the soon to be occasions.  As we pulled in to Sister's apartment, it hit 200,000 miles!

Celebrating with pizza.

Hilton Head 2011: Part ONE

This year JP and I went to Hilton Head with his side of the family for the second consecutive year.  We were there from a Saturday to the next Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed our full week.

This year we had a new friend join us on our trip.  JP's brother Michael brought his girlfriend Heather, and this was everyone's first time to meet her.




We had such a great time!  Some of my favorite things included:



Riding bikes with Michael, Matt, and Heather to the lighthouse.
Riding bikes right before a storm.
Riding my bike with JP while he ran in the mornings
Eating so much yummy food
Playing games on the beach
Sleeping on the beach
Watching the dogs on the beach
Celebrating our birthdays
Playing games in the house every night


I'm not sure which was more fun.  Playing the game Blokus or the accent in which JP said Blokus.



Stay tuned for more of a glimpse into our trip!

Graduation Celebration

In 2007, my sister Sarah graduated from high school and I graduated from Samford.

Four years later we had a double graduation again... with her graduating from Samford and me from UAB.   Sarah graduated on May 13 with a degree in accounting and will start working for PWC in the Fall of 2012.  During her off time she will be studying for the CPA exam, going to grad school, and hopefully doing some really cool things and taking some fun trips.

I did not actually go through graduation this time so did not have a camp and gown.  My sister's friend's mom did make me take a picture in Sarah's graduation hat though.

 
I spent the morning of Sarah's graduation with her and her roommates.  Because Samford's Business School (The Brock School of Business) graduated on Friday while the Arts & Sciences graduated on Saturday, two of her roommates did not graduate on the same day as her.  They did however put on their graduation attire to snap some pictures.
 

Sarah had many supporters at her graduation including:

Our parents...

Our sweet grandmothers...

Our Aunt...

And, of course, her favorite sister...

Note: JP was unable to attend because he had to work.  However, I know he was very sad he did not get to see his favorite fellow accounting major walk across that stage!

 After the graduation, we celebrated with a yummy meal at Do-Di-Yos.

 Other than her graduation day, Sarah and I celebrated her graduation both before and after.  The weekend before her graduation Sarah, her roommate, JP, and I went on an epic 13 mile hike at Oak Mountain State Park.  We also grilled hamburgers at her house.

After graduation we celebrated with a trip out West which also included an epic hike.  No worries, you will get to read all about this trip next week.

Christmas Day 2010

This Christmas definitely was one of my favorites and will be remembered in the future.

The days before Christmas the weather men kept saying we might could expect a white Christmas.  We didn't really take them seriously, especially my sister.  On Christmas morning, JP went downstairs before I did, and I heard him say something to my Dad about snow.  In my mind I pictured a slight dusting, but when I went downstairs I was quite shocked!  I ran upstairs to my Sister's room since she was still asleep and said, "There is a ton of snow outside!"  Her response, "No there's not." She got out of bed and peeked out her window and was proven wrong.

We truly had a white Christmas!  My parent's house looked like a Christmas card or a movie.

Time in the snow would come later.  First, we ate our traditional Christmas breakfast and then moved to the living room to open gifts.

Once we were older we found Christmas was more fun when we went slow and watched everyone open their gifts instead of quickly opening our gifts at one time like when we were kids.  This led to our new Christmas gift opening tradition that we started a few years ago.  On Christmas Eve, I go through the gifts under the tree and place a number on each gift.  I put a corresponding number in a mug.  On Christmas morning everyone gathers their gifts and looks at the numbers they have.  Someone draws a number out of the mug, and if you have the gift what the number, you get to open it.  

 

Once you open the gift, you then draw the next number.  We all really enjoy this tradition and feel like it makes opening gifts more meaningful.

This year my big gift was an iron.  I was very excited because I didn't think I would be getting an iron, and I really wanted a new one because the one we have is really old.  I've been ironing a lot more now that JP is wearing dress shirts to work every day.  Now I'll be ironing with a top of the line, highly rated iron!

My Mom's big gift was a new sewing machine! 

JP and I gave her this eternity scarf.  She liked it, and so do I.  I want one of my own!

It is always so exciting to see everyone open their gifts, especially the ones I picked out for them!

After the presents were opened it was time to check out the snow.  My Sister went straight out the door without putting on snow appropriate clothes. Honestly, it didn't feel too cold at first.

After we all went inside and put on snow appropriate clothes we all enjoyed the snow.

 

 

The best part though was the dog that came to visit us.  My Sister REALLY wants a dog and would have loved to have gotten a dog for Christmas.  Well she didn't, but she did get to play with a dog in the snow.  This random dog came and played with us for about an hour.  We decided my mom rented him from here, a place my cousin uses to get her boss animals for his photo shoots.

He wasn't the only dog around.  Our neighbors, who we are close with, were out playing with us.  Their bulldog joined us as well.  We saw this dog being active for longer than I think we ever have before.

Other highlights of the day included Granny trying on all of her clothes we gave her the night before and this Feta Dip.  It was so good and so easy to make!

Overall it was such a great Christmas!

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

JP and I spent Christmas with my family this year.  I love Christmas Eve just as much as I love Christmas Day.  My sister, Mom, and I started the day by going to GiGi's to pick up some cupcakes.  We each picked two flavors, and I chose strawberry and chocolate peanut butter.

 The rest of the day was spent cleaning and preparing for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.  I also took time to reorganize the gifts under the tree and number each gift for our Christmas morning gift opening game (more on that later).

That evening we went to the Christmas Eve service.  I get so frustrated throughout the Christmas season over how so little of what goes on seems to revolve around what Christmas is really about.  I love spending time with my family celebrating and focusing on the birth of Christ.

Following the service we headed back for our Christmas Eve dinner.  Each year my aunt, cousin, and grandmother join us.  We always have the "ol' hen" and my Granny's yummy dressing.  Seriously, it is the best I've ever had.  

Our napkins were straight from Paris via my cousin who had just returned from a trip abroad.  And the flowers are my all time favorite, gerber daisies, and were a sweet gift to me from JP.

After dinner, my sister, cousin, and I always entertain our Granny while my always Mom puts away the food and my Aunt always cleans the dishes.  When I say my Aunt always cleans the dishes, it's true.  I always offer to do it for her, and she always refuses the offer.

Once the dishes are clean and the foods is put away, we exchange gifts.  We used to all give everyone a gift, but as we have gotten older we each get one gift to open.  This year we all got products.  My sister, cousin, and I both got body wash.  My Aunt, Mom, and Granny all got different types of facial cream.

 So what does a man get when all the women get products?  My Dad got some intense dry skin lotion, and JP got Tylenol Pain Patches.  It was super funny.  He has been playing basketball after work and has had a sore back lately because of it.

 After everyone opened their gift, it was time for Granny to open her big gift.  This year my Mom and Aunt basically bought her a new winter wardrobe.  The gift bag was full of SO many clothes.  I think Granny was a little overwhelmed!  It was fun to see her go through them all, but what was really fun was the fashion show she had the next day when she tried all of the clothes on!

We chatted for a while, and then I went to bed!  I fell asleep as soon as I got in bed.  Complete opposite of my childhood self! It always took me hours to fall asleep with the anticipation of Santa's arrival!