Christmas Festivities & Fun

Most of our Christmas festivities started on December 19th with Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures that day! :( 

We spent Christmas Eve's Eve (the 23rd) with Charlie & Ginni looking at Christmas lights in Highland Park. Our first stop was Starbucks for some hot coffee to take in the car. After getting our coffee we snapped a few pictures by the pretty trees in the parking lot :) I stole these from Ginni!

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve Casey and I went to the service at c|Life and then came back home with my mom and Casey's parents to eat some dessert and hang out a little. Here's our little family (minus our kitty Ella) on Christmas Eve. 

Casey, Lauren, and Sawyer in the belly;) Technically her first Christmas:)

  

Momma & I

Christmas morning! This is the small tree in our living room.

Our mantle and stockings!

Ella's stocking - she got 2 toys:)

Lucy's stocking! She got some treats and a toy:)

 My stocking! Casey got me an awesome iPhone player, Tim McGraw CD, and 2 beanies! :)

 Casey's stocking! He got a cd and a beanie as well! 

Our big tree in the front room!

Casey & I exchanging presents! We love spending this time together on Christmas morning and are excited about our little girl joining in with us next year :)
 

If you're wondering why my photos are not all that great/clear it is because they are ALL taken on my iphone! I haven't had a camera since July (when we got mine wet in Mexico)!! I got one for Christmas though and am so happy about it! I love it. But anyway, that's why all my Christmas pictures are a little on the blurry/dark side.

After opening presents at home and reading the Christmas story Casey and I headed over to his grandmother's house to meet up with his family and eat lunch!

It looks like I cut out several people's heads but I was really just taking a picture of Caleb here, haha! I did get a pretty good picture of Mitch in the background though:) 

 We all have a stocking with our name on it:)

Next year there will be 3 new stockings (our baby girl and Stephanie's twins!)

 Caleb opening one of his many presents!! :)

 Beverly opening a present!

I got baby clothes for Christmas and I loved it! :)

 Stephanie made me these adorable baby beanies! I just love them and they are already in Sawyer's chest of drawers:)

After lunch and presents at Casey's grandparents we head to my grandparents in Mabank! As a kid this was my favorite part of Christmas and I think it probably still is. I love the house and the memories and of course my Momma Sheila and Pappa Donnie! :) Also there is my mom and Uncle Russell.

Casey helping my mom and grandma carry in some presents!

 You have got to be kidding me - do you see all of those presents?!?!

Mom & I in the presents:)

 Casey was very excited about his new boots! My grandparents own a western store and it came in handy:) 

Casey & I in our funny hats that my mom gave us to wear! Haha!

with Momma Sheila

Lucy giving Uncle Russell some love<3

Every year my mom gives us a special ornament for that year - here is one of two ornaments having to do with a new baby:)

Pappa Donnie opening his presents!

My mom got me an AWESOME present!!

It is all of my favorite tshirts from as far back as elementary school thru college made into a very soft and comfy quilt!!!

 If you notice you'll see several church shirts from Mimosa, my trip to Italy, senior trip, 6 Chix shirts, and many Phi Lamb and A&M shirts!

 I absolutely love it! It is such a neat treasure! I also love that there is one patch that is from a shirt Casey got when he was in 6th grade - he was in an opera and it is his picture with the cast.  

Well that about sums up our Christmas festivities! It was our 2nd married Christmas, but our 7th Christmas as a couple! Crazy! We each still have the first Christmas gifts we gave each other:)

I am already excited about Christmas next year with our first little baby. I know it will be fun and memorable. This Christmas was also memorable knowing that it was our last one to spend alone.

Don’t Judge Me

I took the day off.

Yes, that's right. Don't judge me for it (Beverly, I'm talking to you :) haha)!

I was sick Wednesday night...I felt bad at school that day, left around 5, got Sonic, came home, ate, and then threw up. Yeah, not pretty. Went to bed at like 8:30 that night and went ahead to school the next morning because I didn't have "substitute friendly" plans ready. I decided on Thursday while I was at school (still not feeling well) that I would take off on Friday to catch up on rest, house work, laundry, and errands. You know when you're on your last pair of undies that its time to do some laundry! Well, that’s me! Too much information?

I have done well today! I woke up around 9, giving me 2 1/2 hours of extra sleep, but still an early enough day for all that I had planned!

Here's a run down of my day!

1. First off, I did the dishes and cleaned out the washer & dryer--Casey washed Lucy's bed in there and there was dog hair ALL over it. So trying to clean that out was a lot of fun.
2. After that I started on my laundry while picking up around the house. I will probably do around 8 loads when it is all said and done. I can’t even see my closet floor due to all the dirty clothes that are overflowing from my super-packed laundry basket.
3. Next I took Lucy to PetsMart to get a "puppy bath and brush" for only $11! They bathe her, blow dry her, brush her, trim her nails, and clean out her ears for $11. That's a pretty good deal considering all the time it would take ME to do it. I wouldn’t even know how to go about cleaning out her ears, and I’m sure there would be lots of blood if I tried to cut her nails.
4. After I dropped her off I made my way to the bank where I spent 30 minutes trying to get my silly ATM card fixed. It's been blocked many times and keeps saying "check financial institution." Turns out the problem was on the bank’s end and they fixed it, but it took a long time to figure out the whole mess. I'd already gone in there to take care of it a couple of weeks ago, and thought it had been fixed until I tried to use it again.
5. After the bank I got myself a mocha frappucino at Starbucks.
6. Then I went to Pier 1 to look at all the cutesie Christmas decor, but I kept myself from getting anything this time.
7. Next I went to Old Navy and got my gift for Pokeno night tonight! It's super cute! I can’t tell you what it is because it’s a surprise for tonight! While I was at Old Navy I got an awesome deal on 2 swim suits on clearance! I got a blue and white tankini for $10 and a cute black one piece for $5! I'd been looking for a tankini and a one piece this year, but never found one I liked. Finally! And on sale! Whoo! I also got some cute, pink house shoes. I know most people call them slippers, but I call them house shoes. My current pair have seen much better days. Time to retire them.
8. Now I'm back home doing more laundry and cleaning some more while I watch last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy! I LOVE Grey's. It's by far my favorite show these days.
9. After a little while I'm going to go pick up Lucy at PetsMart and take her to get her last set of booster shots and also her rabies shot at 4:30. I kind of like going to the vet - his office is cool and they have a big, live-in cat. He's pretty cool. :)
10. After that I'll come home and get ready for Pokeno Night! This month it is at Natalie's at 7! I'll be riding with Ginni there. It's been a fun day and, I have fun night ahead of me! Yay for the weekend!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my cute-and-cuddly companions on this gorgeous Friday afternoon!

 

Our Little Family

A few days ago a teacher-friend of mine, Christie Harty (look at ChristieHartyPhotography.com), took our “family portraits!” We took the pictures at an old, abandoned house in Forney by my school. It was a mini-session, so it was short and sweet-which, I’m sure, is Casey’s favorite. You know how guys don’t like this sort of stuff as much as we girls do, but he was a good sport – actually made me think he enjoyed it…maybe he did! :)

We were hoping to get some cute pictures of the 4 of us (and a couple for a potential Christmas card picture), so we brought both of our sweet animals, Lucy & Ella. That part was pretty interesting….and funny. We have a couple of pictures of Ella almost scratching Lucy’s eyes out – those are the best :)

Anyway, here are some of my favorites! Tell me which ones you think would make the best Christmas card :)

I love the different editing effects she did – the first one is a ‘harder’ look, and the second one has a soft focus

 

The last one is my pick for a Christmas card this year :)

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We both like this one a lot – I think the ‘white out’ in the background is really cool!

A few of the shots when the animals were being uncooperative – which turned out to be some funny pictures!

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Our little family :)

Different colors/lighting

    

Well, that’s all for now! Hope everyone is having a great Monday! I’m at home sick…and hopefully not with the flu!!!

Happy Weekend!

This is what I came home to today. Two sleeping pets on the couch and chair in the living room. They're so cute :)

Miss Ella all stretched out on the chair and some laundry :) I think she liked this spot because the lap top underneath the laundry made it all warm :) How many times have you seen a cat lay like that? She's so funny.

Sweet little Lucy taking a nap on her favorite pillow :) She recently learned how to jump on the couch, and we are so glad because we were getting tired of picking her up every time!!
You may wonder why the candlesticks are on the couch next to her. That is because Casey painted our new mantle while I was at work today. He had today off and I came home to a clean house, painted fireplace, and a sweet husband that had planned the evening for us. We have dinner reservations at 8:15 at Truluck's and then we're staying the night in Dallas somewhere (the actual place is a suprise). He said it was one last hoorah before I start back to school for good. So sweet. :)

Happy weekend!!