A Christmas to Remember

We decided to spend Christmas at home this year with Andrew's family since we will be spending the week after Christmas with my parents in the Smoky Mountains. It would have been great, but Andrew got sick Christmas Eve with the flu and didn't feel well on Christmas. Then the day after Christmas I got sick too, so we have spent most of the time since Wednesday night in the bed. Actually, most of Andrew's family was sick too, so it is definitely a Christmas we will remember! I realized I didn't take many pictures on Christmas this year - most of the ones I have are in the few days leading up to Christmas - and ones I snapped on my cell phone.

We had Christmas with Andrew's grandparents the Sunday before Christmas and most of us were still well then.

Santa visited Andrew early this year and brought him a Ranger. He has been wanting one of these for a long time! Avery loves it too!

 

A few months ago, our church started the Heart to Home ministry that many churches are already involved in. We get together once a month with four "heart moms"/older women without children still in their homes and lots of "heart sisters"/younger women single, married with or without kids. At our December meeting with painted Christmas platters - being the perfectionist that I am, I didn't finish mine that night- so the second picture is the final product! I absolutely love how it turned out!

We did make it to the Christmas Eve service at our church before Andrew started feeling too bad. It is one of my favorite traditions. Even before I met Andrew I used to go to the Christmas Eve service with my family. It is such a sweet reminder of the reason for the season - and I love celebrating Christ's birth with so many of our friends and family.

 The Christmas tree was full at Andrew's parents house Christmas morning. We have more than we deserve.

And the mess left over afterwards...

 And finally... Andrew & I got a new sister-in-law for Christmas this year! His brother, Christopher, proposed to his girlfriend Emily in New York over Christmas! We are so excited for them and ready to celebrate in July!

Sorry for the randomness and shortness of this post! I am still in the bed recovering! Hope you and yours had a wonderful and healthy Christmas this year! May God bless you!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas

 We are now approaching our second married Christmas and although I didn't expect to still be in our "starter" home, I enjoyed adding lots of new decorations this year and hope to continue to add new things every year! We have done alot of renovations since last Christmas including new floors, new paint, and a few new pieces of furniture here and there. Our goal is to be in our new house by Christmas 2016 -- we will begin building around Christmas 2015 if all goes as planned. Anyway, here is this year's cozy abode.

My wonderful husband built this coffee table for me -- I love it but haven't gotten decorations for it just yet.

And this year's Christmas card.. although we had taken several pictures when we were in Punta Cana that I thought I would use for our Christmas card, I decided we couldn't have a Christmas card without our precious Avery. So I used a picture we took at my parents on Thanksgiving and then put our picture from Punta Cana on the back. I think they turned out great. I used www.minted.com and have never been disappointed with anything I have ordered from them!

 And another picture from Thanksgiving just because :) We have so much to be thankful for!

Hope you and yours are enjoying the beginning of the Christmas season! I pray that we all may have the power to understand the greatness of Christ's love - how wide and how long and how high and how deep that love is (Ephesians 3:18) and to spread his love in tangible ways to those around us!

Much love!
-Laura

Christmas card 2012

This has been a year of pictures for us. Between engagement photos, graduation pictures, bridal shower pictures, wedding photos, and all the pictures in between, we have taken enough pictures this year to last us for awhile. It has been a busy year with so many wonderful memories. So when it came to deciding on one picture for this year's Christmas card, well, it was a little hard to narrow it down. And for those of you who know me well, know that I'm not the best when it comes to making decisions. 

After several days - well, maybe it was a few weeks - I finally made my decision. I chose a photo that meant the most to us and summed up our year the best, even though it wasn't the absolute best picture of us. The picture was made at our wedding reception, taken by our wonderful photographer Lauren Liddell, with our chocolate lab, Avery. What you can't see in the picture is that we were facing the reception location where everyone was eating, dancing, etc. Avery didn't understand why all those people were in the yard and was literally shaking. She was not cooperating, looking at the camera, perking her ears up pretty - at all. A big kuddos to Lauren for capturing this moment, which probably lasted for a tenth of a second. 

No pretty perked up ears. A somewhat blurry bride and groom. But this marked the beginning of our new life together. Just an imperfect girl and boy, and a little spunky lab, that make up our family with plenty of love to go around.

This is what most of our pictures with Avery were like. And needless to say this one didn't make it to the Christmas card.

And then Andrew decided to help get her attention so I could get a cute picture with Avery.

And the pictures aren't perfect but oh what fun memories! And memories win over pictures any day of the week.

I continue to rejoice in the Lord my Savior who has blessed me with these precious gifts.

From Minted

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