Deck the halls

For as long as I can remember, Christmas has always been my favorite time of year!  And today, I have to admit...I am completely obsessed with Christmas!!!  We put decorations up a little earlier every year.  This year I talked Kole into putting them up the week before Thanksgiving and being the sweet husband that he is, he didn't mind at all!  I love to decorate every inch of our house and are house seems so cozy with all of our Christmas decorations in place!  I must confess, I would so leave my Christmas decorations up all year if it wasn't considered redneck! ; )  When I pull out our decorations every year, I get so excited to see all of my favorite Christmas things.  So I just had to share a few of my favorite Christmas treasures...

 This is my Christmas china by M. Bagwell.  I think it is so pretty and it is something I will always cherish!

 I love decorating with real cranberries.  Put them with a candle and you have a perfectly simple centerpiece!

 Christmas pillows are a must! I love to switch out the pillows in our living room, especially at Christmas time.  

And of course, the tree!  We have a traditional tree with little keepsake ornaments from all the places we've been and the special moments we'll always remember.  I think its so special to have a tree filled with memories!  I look forward to adding more and more memories as the years go by.

And lastly, Christmas music and Christmas movies!  My husband gets fed up with it because I constantly play Christmas music and I stay glued to the Family Channel and Hallmark Channel because they play Christmas movie after Christmas movie....which I just love!  

Ahhh I just love this time of year...Tis the Season!  

Thanksliving....

We had a very busy Thanksgiving!  We made FOUR stops!  We ate a little everywhere we went so I'm pretty sure Kole and I will be working out extra hard this week to work off all that turkey and dressing, but it was so delicious, it was well worth it.  Our day was filled with lots of food, VIP pedicures, and a very serious kick ball game!

 Little Emilee watching the girls give pedicures!

 Mary Hinson, Kathryn and Hadley set up a salon for "VIP pedicures" and much more!  At every family get together, they always come up with something fun to do.  I had a wonderful pedicure from Mary Hinson.

 Then I got a massage from Hadley!  I had no idea I'd get pampered on Thanksgiving!

 Spending time with my sweet Memaw!

 Kathryn and I taking a ride on the four wheeler

 My beautiful mom and Aunt Charlette

 Girl picture!

 Emilee kept us entertained all day, she has the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen and a sassy personality to go with that! She was so much fun to watch!

 As she drove off on the gator with her mom and dad, she would yell "see ya!"  It was too cute!

 The guys shooting skeets and playing with their guns

 Aunt Peggy teaching Mary Hinson to dance

 And these are some pictures courtesy of photography by Mary Hinson!  She loved having a photo session.

 My gorgeous cousin, Sarah!  I loved seeing her!

 Hanging out with these girls made our Thanksgiving extra special!

Spending Thanksgiving with our wonderful family was such a reminder of what a blessing they are to us.  We have been blessed with a big family so even though it was a busy day, we are so thankful we had so many places to go and so many special people to spend time with.  

Blessed....

Recently, I have had a lot of days where I felt discouraged about the future, but then I kept praying and I woke up and realized it was a new day and God has restored my hope!  As I've read my daily devotionals this week, I've been reminded of the times in my life when I've been down or discouraged and it is incredible to see how God has carried me through....I am so thankful for that.  I'm thankful that my God is unfailing and that I can rest in peace knowing that He's got me and He's had me all along!  No matter where I'm going or what the future holds, I know He is in control and I wouldn't have it any other way.  When I think of all the ways I have been so abundantly blessed, it is so easy to see God's unfailing love for me.  I have an incredible husband that is always there for me, in the good times or even when I just need to cry.  He is the greatest blessing I have ever been given and I am beyond thankful to call him my husband!  We also have amazing friends and family that are a blessing to our lives.  And we also have a sweet little baby named Thor(our dog), that is happy to see us every single day and makes me smile no matter what.  These are just of few of the things I'm thankful for today.  May we always be reminded of the many blessings in our life!  

Wishing you all a blessed & 

Happy Thanksgiving!

SWAT...

Working at the Child Advocacy Center means being a part of what we call a Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) which includes the CAC, the District Attorney's office, DHR, the S/S nurses and law enforcement.  I have the pleasure of working with officers in Houston County, Dothan City, Geneva County and Dale County.  One day, an investigator with Dale County, who is also the head of their swat team, came to the center and asked me and some of my coworkers to come be "actors" for their swat training.  Of course I jumped at the chance under the stipulation that I would get to carry a gun.  Well he gave me a gun but only one that shoots air pellets but I still thought it was pretty awesome.  For this particular training, one of my coworkers Chad was going to play a dignitary coming to give a speech and swat's mission would be to protect him and get him out of the building safely.  My friend, Jessica and I were part of an angry crowd who didn't like Chad very much.  After he gave his speech, a swarm of men came running in to capture him.  At that time, Jessica and I grabbed our hidden weapons and became snipers, which I have to say was probably the coolest thing ever....UNTIL I had a huge riffle with a light on it pointed in my face with some man yelling at me to drop my weapon because I had been shot!  (well not really shot but in these trainings, if their light is on you, that means you've been shot and you're out)  The neatest thing about these trainings is that the swat team knows they are having a training but they have absolutely no clue what they are going to be doing until they arrive.  It was pretty intense but it was a blast!  I can't wait to do it again!  Kole was pretty jealous because he is dying to be swat when he grows up! ; )  So maybe he'll be able to participate next time!

The spirit of Auburn

In the midst of the Auburn/Cam Newton saga, I think about how much I truly believe in Auburn. I believe in all the things Auburn stands for: honesty, integrity, hard work, and family! Despite all the rumors and all the judgement passed on Auburn over the past few weeks, Auburn is good, honest and true. I know I'm a little biased and those who aren't Auburn fans love every bit of this but regardless of what plays out in the media, I believe in the things Auburn has always stood for. This video displays a little bit of that one-of-a-kind Auburn spirit..

I

I will always believe and Auburn and LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

WAR CAM EAGLE!

Let the wedding festivities begin...

 My sweet brother and his precious fiance, Alyssa are getting married April 30th.  We kicked off the wedding festivities at Alyssa's sister's house where we had an Auburn shower!

 The soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Dean

 Alyssa's parents

 Family picture!

 I love my sweet brother!

 I can't wait to call her my sister!

I'm so excited the wedding fun has officially begun!  I can't wait to spend the next few months celebrating my two favorite people, Wes and Alyssa!  Stayed tuned for more wedding fun...

Family Tradition...

One of Kole's family's longstanding traditions is the National Peanut Festival Parade!  I also grew up going to the parade and I love that they make it an annual family event!  Every year the whole family goes to the parade and then we all get together afterwards for a huge lunch!  It's a tradition that Kole says he's not going to carry on because he's not to fond of the parade but I can assure you, I will be carrying on this tradition.

 Part of the family at the parade

 It made our day to hang out with out sweet friends and we loved seeing Anna Lee at her first NPF parade experience!

 Grabbing those peanuts!!!!

 Keesha and Dustin my sister-in-law and brother-in-law

 What would the peanut festival parade be without Mr. Peanut!

The parade takes me back to being about 4 years old sitting in front of my mom all bundled up in a blanket waving at all the beauty queens and anticipating the peanut drop!  Which is why I will be passing this family tradition on to my children!

Witches, Pumpkins & Dragons Oh my!

Another favorite on my list for Fall is Halloween!  I love seeing all the kids dressed up in their cute costumes, passing out candy and trick or treating.  Of course, Kole and I are a little too old to be dressing up to go trick or treating but this year we got to do some trick or treating with our favorite little boy and girl!  Some of our close friends have children and "Tole" (as Hayes likes to call him) and I love them SO much!  Even though we're not related by blood, they are definitely family to us and we were so excited to spend Halloween with them!  Hayes is 2, soon to be three, and he was a dragon...or a scary green monster as he liked to call it.  Anna Lee is one and it was her first time trick or treating and she was the cutest little pumpkin I've ever seen!  Before we left the Steltenpohl's house, "witch Hazel" appeared to join us on our trick or treating adventure!  Hayes made a deal with witch Hazel saying, "witch you not get me k?"  Witch Hazel agreed but Anna Lee was never fond of her, she would just tell her "no, no!"  It was too funny!  The whole gang headed out to get some candy!  It was a great night with very special friends!

 Even Thor dressed up for Halloween, but not for long!

The Little Auburn girl yelling "War Eagle" 

before turning in to a pumpkin!

 The cutest green monster I've ever seen!

 Baby Bennett is the sweetest baby in the world!

Next year he'll be trick or treating too!

 Happy Halloween!