December Goings-On

Just like everyone else, our December was filled with lots of activity. The first thing we did was help my mom celebrate her birthday by surprising her with an overnight trip to Williamsburg and shopping day at the outlet malls. We had a lot of fun hanging out and spending some time together.

We also had the annual Smithfield company Christmas party. They had an ice sculpture that was shaped like a Santa pig on a throne holding a Christmas tree, so that was pretty hilarious. They also hired caricaturists this year. We didn't win any large prizes (as usual) but we did win the centerpiece from our table, which was a tinsel tree with lights and flowers around the base.

We did send out Christmas cards this year (we skipped last year). I really like sending them, and I addressed them while watching Elf. It was a very "Christmas-y" night. :)

I also had the opportunity to go to New York on a business trip, which was so fun. Keira, John, and their baby went with me. Our business meeting went well, but the best part was being in the city at Christmas time. I ventured out on my own a few times to do some shopping, go see the tree, and just walk around the city with my Starbucks---It was honestly the most fun thing I did this Christmas. There was such a fun energy there and it made me hopeful that maybe one year Christmas will be magical to me again, because the last couple years have been a bit hard and it just hasn't been.

Ryan and Kelly came for Christmas this year--they drove all the way from Texas! We got to go to Christmas Town with them just two days before Christmas. Mom and Dad took us, and I'd never been. I definitely want to go back next year--it was a really fun time.

My biggest Christmas gift was an iMac! Matt surprised me with it. I've been wanting one for almost 4 years, and there are a lot of inside jokes and stories between the two of us about this computer, so let's just say it was a long time coming. I am loving playing on it, although I haven't gotten to spend much time on it yet.

We got to also see Matt's family after Christmas and had a nice (but short) visit in Lexington. I generally love the Christmas season, but somehow this year I am just flat out tired. One year we should just tell everyone we aren't going anywhere for Christmas and just stay home and watch movies.

Here's the picture version, in no particular order:

Matt with the pups in Lexington 

Our "official" Smithfield party photo 

I think I was more excited about snuggling Oakley than he was about snuggling me...

Pope family Christmas from above

Everyone wore Santa hats in honor of Grandma

My iMac!!!

Christmas morning breakfast casserole and orange rolls (it's a tradition!)

Christmas Eve service at St. Lukes (Matt and I played music) 

Fun billboard at Christmas Town

Escape from Pompeii...Christmas-style!

Matt, lookin' all cute

Dad took his first selfie with me on one of the rides :)

<3

The whole clan

The parents

Manhattan from above

It doesn't get much more "New York" than this

Welcome to New York....it's been waiting for you!

Our caricature...let's hope it's not accurate

Santa pig ice sculpture

Our winnings!

Some of my work friends

Our "unofficial" picture from the party

At the resort in Williamsburg

<3

At a pretty gazebo at the resort. 

A Kirkham Thanksgiving and Our Christmas Decorations

We spend every other year with each family for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, it was the Kirkhams' turn to have us for Thanksgiving. With imminent snow on the horizon, we headed out a day earlier than expected and it was a crazy week.

Our friend who just joined the army was in town the Monday before we were leaving, but only for 1 day, so we had him and 8 other friends over for dinner on Monday. During dinner, my parents dropped off Forrest for us to puppy-sit while they went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Dallas for Thanksgiving.

Then we had more friends over for dinner on Tuesday, packed up the car around 7:30 PM, drove to Richmond to see our friends' new baby around 9 PM, and then drove the rest of the way to Lexington in the snow, arriving around 1 AM. We then spent from Wednesday-Saturday morning with Matt's family, and hit the Pope family Thanksgiving on the way home in Williamsburg on Saturday afternoon/evening, arriving back here in Smithfield super late on Saturday night. It was a fun few days filled with lots of friends and family, but when we got home we were exhausted!

We spent that Sunday going to church, napping, and then decorating our house for Christmas. I had SO MUCH FUN doing it this year, because I had hit the after Christmas sales last year and had a lot more lights and decorations to put up this time. I love putting up Christmas decorations. Like...a lot. In Sunday School last week, our opening ice breaker question was what was our favorite Christmas tradition, and Matt said his was watching me get so excited about decorating the house for Christmas. :)

Here's a couple pictures from the Thanksgiving week. We are really blessed and had so much to be thankful for this year, including finding out that my bro and his wife are expecting a baby, so we will be an aunt and uncle next spring to a little nephew!!!!

One day, we went for a run at Matt's parents farm. It was snowing, and they live on a mountain so the run was completely uphill. We only made it about a mile before I had to turn around and head back. Running uphill in 20 degree weather is hard!

Meeting Audrey for the first time. Matt was so nervous to hold her (she was the smallest baby he has ever held) that he pulled a muscle in his forearm because he was holding on so tight. Adorable. 

Forrest loving the farm life.

What we woke up to on Wednesday morning. So beautiful. Luckily Matt's parents have a dining room that one wall is completely covered in windows so we can enjoy this view every time we eat. 

The view from up above Matt's parent's place

We got to go sledding!

The office needed a little Christmas love too.

Our Christmas mantle.

The tree!

The front of the house. 

Family Room--Done! (Sort of)

Our family room is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It has beautiful built-ins, it's completely open to our kitchen, and it just has that "cozy" feel about it.

The only downside, is that it is extremely narrow, which makes it a bit of a struggle to figure out furniture placement. BUT. I think we've finally conquered the room...at least for now. I might change my mind in a few years, but besides adding a couple pieces of wall art, I think this baby is DONE. Here's the before/in progress/after photos for ya. Woot!! 

Here's what it looked like the weekend after we moved in. We had the TV on the shelf that is off-camera to the right.

Quickly we decided we didn't want a TV in this room--it definitely inhibits conversation when folks come over and we found ourselves watching more TV than we wanted to because it was staring us in the face. In our apartment, we didn't really have a choice as to where to put our TV (except we decided early on that we didn't want a tv in our bedroom), but now, with a two-story house, we had plenty of options and decided this WASN'T where we wanted it and we moved it upstairs.

That decision caused us to rearrange the furniture to be like this:

I then found a rug that I loved (as well as a coupon) so we bought this baby from Lowes. I decided I to go ahead and embrace the yellow color scheme that we inherited from the paint job and go with neutrals and yellow as our colors in the room. So I found some yellow knick-knacks and am slowing building the colors in there.

So, then the search became finding two matching chairs. I didn't realize how difficult this would be. I went to furniture stores, HomeGoods, TJMaxx a million times, etc. etc. with no luck. Either the chairs were beautiful and way out of my price range, or within my price range and obviously cheaply made. Matt also requested that the chairs have arms, and many of the ones in my price range didn't.

Then, I discovered wayfair.com. If you haven't gone, GO. They have great prices and different sales each day. I almost immediately found these chairs for a great price with free shipping. I was really excited and couldn't wait for them to arrive.

So, that's how they look in place and in the room. I'm really happy with it and am happy to finally have comfy places to sit for people when they visit us. Yippee! 

Life Update

Okay, so, it's been forever since I posted anything here, so I thought I'd do a bit of a "life update" of sorts, which is essentially a photo dump from my iPhone of what we've been doing the past few (many!) months. I have house updates too, but those are just going to have to wait because this is already way too long.

We went on lots of walks/runs at Windsor Castle Park

We had another foster dog, Holly! She was a sweetie, and we were very attached to her, but she ended up needing to go back to the shelter after she had some aggression issues with a friend's dog. Heartbreaking. She was our first foster dog that we didn't find a home for :( 

Looking cute.

We dressed up as Hermione Granger and a Master Shipbuilder for Halloween.

I decorated the mantel and other areas for fall when Matt's parents came to visit for a weekend to celebrate Abby and Ken's birthdays.

I continued to hang out with my youth group girls. Here, we were making bracelets for Operation Christmas Child. 

We ran a 4 mile "Wild Hog" race with Abby here in Smithfield. I was slower than I wanted to be, but faster than I thought I'd end up being, so that was a good thing! It was also fun to run it together with Abby. 

The house looked beautiful this fall.

We went (spur of the moment) to a local Bacon and Bourbon Festival. We had a GREAT time and totally want to go again next year. Matt discovered he really likes bourbon this year! They also had live music and local craft beers. We saw lots of friends and had a great time. 

We got invited again to the Achievable Dream banquet through Smithfield. I continue to love this charity and it is always fun to get dressed up and attend a nice dinner/auction. This year we bought a yard trimmer, a couple gift cards, and a holiday decoration. 

My parents also got invited!

We went to a few more weddings this summer and saw friends there. Very fun. 

Another wedding. 

I attempted to get back into painting by painting a few gifts for friends' kids. It's a slow and steady start but I am slowly getting back into it. I've taken up watercolor and have discovered I really like doing ink and watercolor paintings the best. 

Another gift. 

A gift that I ended up deciding to keep for myself :) 

We went on a beach vacation with both families this summer to Emerald Isle, and even made matching t-shirts! We had a good time together and loved the time off work. 

Abby got a puppy, Oakley, who is now 11 months and MASSIVE compared to this photo. This was the first time I met him, when I spent the night in Cville for work with Abby and had a "girls night" together. 

My office when I first moved in in February. I was so excited!!!

My new "office" finally started to have some personality over the last month or so!

For my birthday, Matt bought me a Martin guitar from a friend who was looking to sell his. It is my baby and I love playing it, even though I am not very good. 

As is becoming our yearly tradition, we had foster kittens this year in the spring. Matt's parents ended up adopting 2, so it has been fun to watch them grow! They're huge now! 

Foster baby.

Matt pretended he didn't like the kittens, but he loved them! :) 

Proof--he put that kitten there!