Of course we're back from Hickory Knob now! We got back yesterday about noon and started putting out our Christmas decorations. I'll have to post a pic at some point to prove how awesome my hubby is at decorating...(especially for Christmas!) Last year he got some really great deals after Christmas at Michael's so we have lots of new decorations this year...Our living room looks so good!

Later in the afternoon we had lunch at local Italian restaurant, The Garlic Clove...As always, the food was great, but the best part was how nice and relaxing the meal was! Lately we've been doing a lot of take-out and even when we DO eat in, we're usually in a rush for some reason, but yesterday we had time to kill and actually took our time eating and even ordered DESSERT!

Afterward we had family pictures with Matt's family and then spent a little time wrapping gifts outside of Wal-Mart as part of a Student Ministry/Worship Team fundraiser...

Today was a TOTALLY rainy, lazy day...I slept in til noon, got up and watched the first half of the Georgia game and then took a nap from 1:30-3:30! I was starving by the time I got up so we had dinner at Outback and then us and our cousin Abby (who's in town from Tennessee) went to see "Four Christmases." - Very funny movie!

Now, much to our cats' delight, we're settling in for the evening...Tomorrow will be church and who know's what else we'll find to do on the last day of our long holiday weekend before heading back to what will be a CRAZY week at work!

Happy Thanksgiving from Hickory Knob!

We got in later last night that usual so we made our rounds to let everyone know we'd made it, did a little scrapbooking and then kinda called it an early night!

Today's been a pretty lazy day...Poor Jadyn is still fighting his ear infection and is just NOT a happy camper! We just went outside to take a few pics, but who knows what we actually ended up with between Jadyn's tears and my dead battery!!

So as I'm thinking about all the things I need to do in the next couple of days to get ready for Thanksgiving I'm also looking at my planner and kinda starting to panic at how full the month of December is ALREADY...I'm reminded of my good friend Sarah's response to an question on an email forward about what's most annoying about the holidays...

"The busyness of the schedule. I mean, really, do we have to have a Christmas party with every single group of people we happen to be a part of? Do we really have to make a dish of food and buy a $5 gift and find a sitter for for all those parties? Why can't we spread them out over the whole year? Then we would have something to look forward to in August. Why do we feel compelled to max-out our time and money all in one month? Wouldn't a simple "I love you and appreciate you" be enough to show someone the kindness of Jesus during the season? Why do we really do all of this? I'm not trying to be Scrooge. I just get stressed at this time of the year when everyone requires more of your time and money than usual. Wouldn't it just be nice to have a break? I think I'll send out an invitation for a "stay-at-home" Christmas party to all my friends. It would read..."You're invited to STAY HOME for a Christmas Party. Don't buy a gift. Don't make a finger food. Don't hire a sitter. Don't bundle up and leave the house. Brew yourself a cup of coffee. Turn on some Christmas music. Sit on your couch under a cozy blanket. Gaze into the lights on your tree. Think of me and I'll think of you. I love you dearly and hope you have a Merry Christmas!" "

Well said Sarah! Love ya girl!

Sorry...No fun post from Jadyn tonight! We're busy taking care of a sick Mr. Matt! But we did have fun at the park with Natalie and Laurel and even got to make a trip to the grocery store before going to John Ross' house for dinner!

But like I said...We better get back to our patient!

Hi mommy! I'm sorry you have to work tonight, but try not to miss me too much!



You didn't realize how tired I was earlier, but me and Mrs. Jenn slept until 6:15! I would've slept longer, but Mrs. Jenn wanted me to wake up and watch football with her and Mr. Matt. Once I woke up a little she gave me my milk and I really enjoyed gulping it down while relaxing in front of the fire...



I'm having a great time trying to befriend the kitties, but they keep asking me why they have to eat their dinner up on top of the counter...(Maybe you can figure out why.)



Now don't worry...Unlike last night, I'm not looking for you out the front door...I'm watching Mr. Matt change the light bulbs on the porch! He's so cool, mom! He's like Super Matt!



Oh and thanks for sending this book for me to read...You must know me pretty well!



Now I hate for you to have to see this, but of course no night's complete without just a couple of tears...Like this time when Mrs. Jenn wouldn't let me press all the buttons on the TV...I mean, what's up with that?!? Doesn't she know I'm very sensitive and even though she very nicely told me "No" it still hurt my sweet little feelings!



But Mr. Matt to the rescue! As long as I can climb up in his lap I'm perfectly content!

Well I'm off to play some more!
See ya later alligator!!

So it's a proven fact that I just don't like to be cold. I hate it. It's unecessary. I don't know what it is, but once I get cold I STAY cold until about an hour after I go to bed. Like right now, I'm a little on the "cool" side but my poor little hands are like POPSICLES!! Of course my job involves this wonderful little computer that I'm currently typing on and I've found it quite difficult to TYPE with big ol' bulky gloves on! Now I am kinda thankful that we've made it halfway into November before the cold weather hit, but now that it's here I'm just not ready!

Crazy Kind of Bond

When Matt & I first got married (May 2004) we moved into Arborside (apartments). Shortly thereafter, (August 2004) Matt's mom told us that the young guy who works for her was getting married and they were moving in our apartment complex and would actually be right across the street from us. Well, sure enough, they did. And every now and then we'd see them getting home from work or taking in groceries, but we never spoke (or even acknowledged each other for that matter!!) Finally, a full year later (August 2005) from our upstairs window in our office I saw Jason pull up, get out and go inside their apartment. Obviously I was in some sort of wild and crazy mood because after 45 minutes of begging, I finally convinced Matt that we should just go knock on their door and introduce ourselves! So with our hearts beating in throats, we made the long walk across the parking lot and met two of the best people in the world!

Jason & Kacey invited us in and we sat and talked for HOURS that first evening. It was absolutely crazy how much the four of us had in common! Within a couple of weeks we were basically inseperable. We were together almost every night. We'd get home from work/class and head over to Jason & Kacey's where the guys would play NCAA Football on XBox while Kacey and I chilled on the couch with a couple of good books! Looking back, it seems like that period in our lives lasted for years, but it was really only less than a year.

In May (2006) Jason & Kacey moved back to Gibson (about an hour away) to be closer to family. Although we kept saying we were gonna make it down to Gibson to spend the weekend with them, in all the craziness of life it just never happened, so text messaging became our main means of communication. In December, Matt & I closed on our new house and we too moved out of the ol' Arborside! We were totally floored when Jason & Kacey (and Kacey's twin sister, Stacey) showed up at our housewarming party! This was the first time we'd seen each other since they'd moved in May!

Of course before they left that night, we once again vowed that we'd have to get together more often, but as life sometimes goes, that too never happened.

Now here we are November of 2008, and we haven't seen our friends in literally just shy of two full years, (Again, thanks to text messaging, we DO know of the major happenings in each others lives or even what good books we've just GOT to read!) but when I got an invitation in the mail for Kacey's baby shower I did everything possible to make sure we would finally make it Gibson!

Kacey's shower was Saturday morning and Matt & I both are so so glad we were able to go. I went to the shower while the guys hung out playing none other than NCAA Football! Afterwards we were able to watch a little of the Georgia game together before we had to head back to the big city for a wedding.

The thing we just can't get over is how "normal" everything was...I mean, usually there's some sort of awkwardness when you're with people you haven't seen (or barely talked to!) in TWO years, but it was literally like it had only been two WEEKS!! Man it makes me miss them! It was so hard after they moved, but I'm just so thankful that we all still just have that crazy connection that we've had from day one!

Kacey will be having her baby here in Augusta on Thursday, December 18th. Can't wait!! The date's already on the calendar!!

So once again, as we left Saturday, we all said "We've got to get together more often!" but we all know how far that's gotten us in the past. I think this time we'll all try a little harder, give it a bit more effort, and just keep in touch better, but in the end, at least we know that whether it's weeks, months or years, we've got a crazy kind of bond that'll always last!

Wow! A what a whirlwind of a weekend!!

We started out yesterday morning about 9am by heading to a baby shower in Gibson (about an hour away)...We got BACK in town with just minutes to spare to run by the house, change clothes, and get to the wedding of our very good friend's little brother...Sweet wedding and awesome reception! It was great catching up with some of our friends from Curtis...(Even though I start to feel REALLY old when I'm talking to my former JUNIOR HIGH kids who are now in COLLEGE!!) So we leave the wedding, run by the house to change clothes AGAIN and head out to a friend's house in Harlem to hang out for the evening. We hung out for a while, watched some "Queen" and had some low southern country boil! Due to the craziness of the day, we called it a fairly early night so that we could get home and cuddle up in front of our wonderful fireplace!

Today was church and then we made a trip over to the Old Navy to do a little damage. Yeah, we've NEVER spent that much on clothes at one time! (But who can resist a 30% off coupon?!?!) We had a late lunch at Macaroni Grill and spent the afternoon/early evening at the Ellis' house with Kathy, Sarah and the kids!

Now I'm sitting here blogging b/c I've been TOTALLY disconnected from my wonderful laptop for the past 48 hours...Ahhh...I just LOVE the feel of these keys at my fingertips! I'm addicted. Yes, I know. (And I'm also trying very hard NOT to entertain the idea of a new cell phone (or a Blackberry?!?) with major internet capabilities just so I can be connected TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN!!) I could so just sit here for hours editing pics or blogging...BUT It's already past 8 and I think we have a date with our fireplace and a movie!

Just got home from youth. Hungry. Haven't had dinner. (Or lunch, for that matter.) Need to pay bills. Need to go visit my parents. Need to pay their bills. Need to update student ministry info for tonight's visitors. Want to blog. Want to warm my feet in the fire. Want to catch up on some of our recorded shows. Want to work on my "Stories in Hand" project. Want to do absolutely nothing and not have 10,000 thoughts going through my head. Don't like people who are in a permanent bad mood. Don't like people who are rude for absolutely no reason. Just get over yourself, stop creating problems and be nice. Makes life a lot more tolerable for those who are forced to put up with you.

Wow. Just finished editing up pics from this mornings photoshoot with the Popes. In all honesty, I was having my doubts as to how many good ones I was getting during the shoot, but now that I've finished sorting and editing I see that I do have quite a few good ones. (Including a really great family shot that I'm totally thrilled to have!!) The girls actually did really good for me and had fun exploring the location, but the youngest is just at that age where sitting still and looking in one direction with a "normal" smile on her face is pretty impossible! Totally expected though...Nephew Grey is going through that same stage...Good practice for me though!


Here's a few, with a few more over on my photography blog!

Last night was fun. I actually got to scrapbook for the first time since the retreat in AUGUST! The best part though was getting to hang out with some totally fun girls that I don't get to hang out with too often. (This is another group sis and I crop with...We typically get together at least once a month, but I've either been out of town or had something going on the last few months!) Definitely looking forward to next time!

So now that I've killed a few minutes blogging while my pics are being watermarked I guess I'll go burn the proof CD and start winding down for the night!

Just a quick post to FINALLY upload a few pics from last weekend's mountain trip!

(These are totally unedited and I am almost ashamed to put them up, but I'm just gonna have to deal!!)

Looking forward to a nice weekend! Will start it off with somescrapbooking tonight with some buddies I haven't been able to hang out with in the last couple of months. Then tomorrow morning I have a photo shoot with the Pope family...No real plans after that, but no complaints! I'm sure a few random things will come up!

Totally not meaning to post right now...But I just couldn't freaking resit that "New Post" button! I mean seriously, I haven't even posted pics from last weekend mountain trip!! What's the world coming to?? Yes, the guilt is eating me alive!! And what's crazier than me not posting is the fact that the blogs I normally check quite often (like, oh, say HOURLY!) haven't been checked in almost a whole day!! For instance I just now had the chance to read about Lindsey's crappy day, or check in on MckMama and baby Stellan, or even see pics from Matt's latest shoot!! INSANITY!

But it's getting late and we all know I gots to have my sleep! Maybe things will get back to normal tomorrow because I'd love to tell you all about my thoughts on the BCS vs. a playoff system...and youth...and photography...and snow skiing...and probably a few other random things that are on my mind these days!

So until then...

So it's official. If it weren't for the PEOPLE back home, we could TOTALLY move up here to the mountains!!

We got in kinda late last night, (about 11:00) but that didn't keep me and Matt from heading straight to the hot tub! (After giving my parents the grand tour of course! - And yes, they were even more blown away than we were the first time we were here a couple of weeks ago!)

Today we took my parents over to Brasstown Bald (the highest mountain in Georgia) and then made a fun little stop in downtown Blue Ridge...

We've been back here at the cabin all evening watching football and just chilling on the hammock or in the hot tub...Almost time to start winding down for bed though!

Tomorrow we'll going to visit our favorite farm animals over at Hillcrest Orchard, eat some boiled peanuts and load up on lots of yummy apple treats to take back home!

Sorry no pics...Too lazy to upload right now. But hey! I'm on vacation and I can do whatever I want!!