Christmas, Tree Stands, and an Anniversary.......

Well, it's been an eventful week, to say the least. We spent Christmas in St. Louis with Gary's family and had so much fun. We left on Tuesday around noon and got to St. Louis at 5:00. We made really good time, even though we had to drive through some ice and snow. I got caught up on a lot of reading on the way there, which was surprising because I've never been able to read in the car. I finished Eclipse and now am about a third way through Breaking Dawn. If I haven't mentioned this yet in my blog, I'm obsessed with the Twilight series. Edward Cullen is sooooo dreamy! Anywho, we went to Gary's parents' church on Christmas Eve and it was so neat. I always seem to get a lot out of the services there. Their pastor seems very down to earth. To top it all off, they had cookies, hot chocolate, and apple cider!
Okay, so now to the bad news. On the way home on Sunday I called my parents to make sure they were home so we could pick up Tina. She then informed me that my dad had just called her from the woods where he was hunting and his tree stand had broken. He had fallen about 15 feet. He's now in the hospital and his heel is crushed and he has a compressed fracture in his back. Please pray for a speedy recovery. We feel really lucky because it definitely could have been much worse, but he is in a lot of pain.
Today was our one year anniversary. I spent most of the day running errands and going back and forth to the hospital to check on my dad. Tonight, Gary took me to dinner at Noodles and it was nice to finally relax. I can't believe we've been married for a year. I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband and a great family. God is good!

100 Days to Jamaica!!!

Can you believe it? It's actually less than 100 days now. I think it's like 95 or 96. Either way, it's getting closer and closer. I can't wait to be soaking up the sun and laying on the beach, especially considering that it's 18 degrees outside! YIKES! We decided to celebrate the over halfway mark to our trip with a little trip to the square and dinner. Here's a few pics from the night!
Here's Max and Aaron with Mr. Fulbright.....

We found some mistletoe!

The whole Jamaica clan!

These would have been great pictures, except for the stupid white car!


Okay, I'm going to get off here and try to stay warm.

The First Annual Merry Shindig!

We kicked off the Christmas season with our first ever Merry Shindig! It was so much fun! It got off to a rocky start though, because something was burning in the bottom of the oven and filled the entire house with smoke right as everyone was arriving!!!! Yeah, I almost had a heart attack..... Luckily, the smoke quickly cleared out and we had a great time. There was so much good food. I'm so thankful for my bestest friends, Kari Beth and Leslie, who helped me decorate and cook for the party. I really couldn't have done it without them! Here are some pics from this fun-filled evening!

All the girlies!


Here's Gary and Max in their fashionable Salvation Army attire......

Our party favors!!! I painted the polka dots, Kari wrote on them, and Leslie tied the super cute bows! Great teamwork!

Supposedly, it's going to sleet/snow tonight and I'm praying that school gets canceled tomorrow, but it's not looking too promising. I keep looking out the window, and NOTHING is falling! It's so frustrating!!! Local weather stations stink! :( I guess I'll just continue to sit here by the fire with Tina and keep up the wishful thinking.

Fire Side!

I just had to post this picture of Tina laying in front of the fire. It's so cute. She loves anything warm. Her favorite thing is to lay on top of our clothes right out of the dryer. She's such a cutie pa tootie!

Turkey Lurkey

We had such a great Thanksgiving. It's definitely one of my favorite holidays. On Wednesday we went to Fort Smith to see Gary's sisters. We got to play with Shannon's kiddos and we had so much fun. Avery wanted to get out the easy bake oven and we attempted to make chocolate chip cookies. That didn't really work out, but it was very entertaining. I also got to play with baby Nathan. He is one of the happiest little babies, always smiling! Later that day, we dropped the kiddos off at Marty's parents house and went to watch Four Christmases. I pretty much laughed throughout the entire movie. It was hillarious!



Thanksgiving day was spent with my side of the family. My Dad, Gary and my cousin Zach put up Christmas light on my parents' house and thankfully no one was injured. We ate lots of great food and went to bed early!! On Friday, my Mom and I woke up early to go Christmas shopping. We found some pretty good deals and just had fun amidst all the chaos! Here's a silly pic from Friday night with some Christmas decor I bought that day.

These trees are NOT meant to be worn as hats and that was very uncomfortable! Well, I better stop blogging and get busy cleaning. Our Merry Shindig is next weekend and I've got a lot of work to do around here!!!

What a great weekend!!!

This weekend was so much fun! On Friday night, I got to have dinner with friends, go to a jewelry party, and the best part of all, I GOT TO SEE TWILIGHT! Can I just say that Edward Cullen is amazing. When I first found out who was playing Edward, I was disappointed BUT after seeing the movie, I couldn't picture a better actor to portray that character. He's perfect. And so is Bella. I don't think people who haven't read the book would fully appreciate the movie, but I LOVED it!
Here's some pics from this fun-filled night.



Saturday I spent the entire day shopping for Christmas decor with two of my bestest friends! We went all over town and saw so many cute things. I came to the conclusion that I could be one heck of a decorator if I had an endless supply of moola. Unfortunately, that is not the case, SO I'm going to have to get creative and just do my best. With that being said, I'm quite proud of myself because I really like my Christmas tree. Gary and I ended up putting it up on Saturday night and I'm really happy with it. Luckily, my friend Leslie and her husband were able to drop by and help me put the ribbon on my tree because I suck at that stuff. My husband also put the lights on the house without me even having to ask him. LOVE him!



Today, I went bowling with my Grandpa. He's such a cute, little man! He's in a bowling league with my friend Robert's grandpa and he just loves it. I told him once that I would go with him and now it's turned into a monthly routine. I'm not the biggest fan of bowling, but I know he enjoys it so I'm willing to do it. It's pretty funny. Today, I actually did really well (my score was a 138)! I've never bowled that well in my life. I'm not sure what got into me. Okay, well I think that about wraps it up. I'm so glad this is going to be a short work week! YAY FOR THANKSGIVING!!!!

Changes....

Changes...I don't like them. In fact, I hate them. I am a creature of habit. I don't like trying new things, and I'll be the first to admit it. So you can imagine my uneasiness when my husband told me that we were switching gyms. This probably wouldn't be that big of a deal to most people, but it has totally thrown me through a loop. We had both been members of Fuel for a few years, and I really liked it. BUT, Gary thinks it would be better for us (logistically) to start going to FAC because it's so much closer to our house. At first, I was okay with it because they have a pool and it will be nice in the summertime. However, I went today for the first time and I'm very disappointed. Their equipment is super old and it's not nearly as nice as Fuel's. :( I just have to keep reminding myself that I'll get to hang out at the pool this summer! But right now, I'm pretty upset about this deal!

White Trash Bash

Here's my LATE post of Halloween pics from Max & Leslie's party...sorry it took me so long!

Doesn't Aaron look beautiful?!?! :)

Besties!

Gender confused boys....
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Could we be any classier?

What a nice couple....looks like a streaker snuck in the back door.

Okay, now to the present. We have started a workout challenge to help us get in shape before our Jamaica trip. It sucks, but I know it will be worth it. I am in desperate need of getting in shape! I'll keep you posted on how it turns out! :)

Candy, Kiddos, and Craziness!

Well, yesterday was Halloween, and school was CRAZY, but fun. All the teachers and kiddos got to dress up and our third grade team dressed as pirates. It was a lot of fun, but I was so ready to get that costume off by the end of the day! Our class had a Halloween party at the end of the day, which my homeroom mom was responsible for. I wasn't really sure what to expect and I always feel a little uneasy about letting someone else take charge in my classroom, BUT I was not disappointed. I could not believe all of the food, games, and party favors this mom and dad put together for our room. They went way above and beyond and the kids loved it. I will never be able to thank them enough, and I can't wait to see what our Christmas and Valentines parties will be like. It was so much fun, and so well planned! Here are some pictures from yesterday.
Me with my 3rd grade team..I LOVE them!

ARRRRRR MATEY!

Look who I ran into! SNOW WHITE!!!

After the Halloween party, I went to my parents house with Tina to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. We ended up having to leave Tina inside while my mom and I sat out on the front porch handing out candy. I've come to the conclusion that Tina is just not user friendly. I love her to death, but I'm probably crazy for doing so. Okay, so back to the trick or treaters. Let me just say that there were some major freaks out last night. I don't know why older people think it's okay for them to trick or treat, but it is NOT! I shorted them on candy on several occasions. I mean there were a couple people in their late 2o's, maybe early 3o's trick or treating. FREAKS! Don't these people have anything better to do with people their own age? I mean that's just creepy. Okay, sorry about that. Well, my next post should have some hillarious pictures because we are going to Max and Leslie's White Trash Halloween Bash tonight! I can't wait! :)

Halloween!

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I've been really bad about this blogging thing. Since I've been gone, we went to the beach, Gary has gotten a new jeep, and I started school again! The jeep is really cute and it's a lot of fun. We went on a camping trip a couple weeks ago and I got to experience "jeeping" for the first time. My life flashed before my eyes a couple times, but it was a lot of fun. However, I don't think I'm cut out to camp. It's just a little too rough for me. Here are some pics from our beach and camping trip.






Tomorrow is our Halloween party at school and I'm going to be a pirate! ARRR! It should be fun. On Halloween night, Tina and I will be going to my parents house to hand out candy to trick or treaters. Tina will be dressed as a bumble bee but I have a feeling she won't be too friendly to the trick or treaters. I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure she has social anxiety disorder. :(

Our new nephew, Father's Day, and My Birthday!

My birthday was this past Sunday. It happened to fall on Father's Day this year. Gary's parents were in town so we got to have breakfast with them on Father's Day and then we had dinner at my Grandparents. On Saturday, we went to dinner with our best friends at Bordinos for my birthday! Gary surprised me with a Maggie Moo's ice cream cake in my favorite flavor, Espress Yourself!! I was so excited! We had a lot of fun at dinner, except I didn't feel too well so we didn't end up going out afterwards. :( Also, my sister in law had her baby last week; Nathan Martin Shell. He is so precious. We got to go to the hospital and see him right after he was born. It was so cute to see how the girls interacted with him. Here's some pictures of the past week!

Crawfish Boil and End of School!

Gary and I had a crawfish party this past weekend. I had only eaten crawfish once before this party and I wasn't too wild about them. I just don't like cracking open a creature to eat it's insides! I felt the same way at the party. Luckily we had corn on the cob, salad, and baked potatoes for me and a few others who didn't like crawfish. The party was so much fun and I got to play yard golf for the first time. Max and Leslie brought their game over and it was so much fun! We have got to get our own set! Also, last Friday was the last day of school. This was my first year teaching and it was definitely rough but I have learned so much! I really feel like next year will be a lot easier. It was hard to say goodbye to my kids, but I'm really excited for summer!

Sorry it's been a while!

We're finally married! Our wedding was so much fun. We have been married for almost 5 months now and it's flown by. A lot of people say the first year is the hardest, but surprisingly it's been really fun! Only 6 more days until school is out, and I am so ready! I will definitely miss my 3rd graders but I'm ready for a break. We plan to go to the beach this summer (YIPEE!) and I'll be taking some professional development classes (BORING)! We'll have some more pics up soon!