Merry Christmas

We are so blessed and thankful for what we have been given. Today we celebrate the true reason for the season.

Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours!

Our Christmas Card

I love Christmas! It is absolutely my favorite holiday, and it reminds me each year to be thankful for my little family and how fortunate we are. Last year was my first year sending a Christmas card to our friends and family, and it is definitely a tradition I plan to continue!

Last year, I used Shutterfly for our holiday card. I really LOVE how they turned out.

Here is last year's card...
Shutterfly was very easy to navigate, and designing a card only took a few minutes! You can upload your own photos, and size them and place them on the card exactly how you want! Once they shipped, I got them in less than a week, and they came with envelopes too! Doesn't get any easier than that. The quality was amazing too!

I knew I wanted to use Shutterfly again this year, and was so excited when I read on Adrienne's blog that bloggers can get 50 free cards! I am having a hard time choosing which one I want! Here are my three favorite cards...

Send Holiday Cheer Christmas Card



Retro Kaleidoscope Holiday Card



Warm Wishes Christmas Card

Aren't they adorable??? I plan on using this picture of our little family for the card design I choose.


If you are a blogger interested in getting 50 free cards, you can go here to find more information. :)

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are having fun preparing for Christmas. Remember the reason for the season!

Feelin' Crafty and Thankful

Some of the things mom and I made...





This Thanksgiving, I am incredibly thankful for my wonderful husband, step daughter, and family. I am thankful for our health and for our home. I am thankful for our jobs and our friends.

We are very blessed...

Have a Happy THANKSgiving everyone!

Wrapping up Summer...

Warning- totally random blogging ahead!!!

Well...I go back to work in ten days...I really wasn't ready until I went up to the school this week. Seeing some of my work friends and laughing with them reminded me that it isn't so bad. :)

I am in party planning mode at the moment! Ashley's shower is on the 14th and sweet Kota monkey's 3rd birthday is on the 21st! Can't wait for both of them! I will definitely post pictures of both.

It has been two months since we bought the new Expedition, but here is a picture. Better late than never, huh?

I really really like it so far! The gas mileage is much worse than my little car, but that's ok! I don't really go much of anywhere too far...I have made a couple trips to Irving, Plano, and Red Oak this summer, so hopefully once I get back into the swing of things and am only driving to and from work it won't be so bad. We are hoping to keep it for a long while- it will be our "family car" once we get to that point! :)

Last year I was the 7th grade cheerleading coach at my school, and this year I moved up with my girls and will be the 8th grade coach. I really really just LOVE my girls! They are so great- they all truly WANT to look great and they work sooo hard! I couldn't ask for a better group of girls. I will be really sad when they leave New. :(

Here are some of them at the 7th grade camp.

All the projects around the house are done, but I have been too lazy to take any pictures. I will do that soon and share them!

I hope everyone has a great last week of summer (for the teachers), and stays inside in the AC!!!

:)

Recipes and a Dog House

I love cooking...but lately I have been in a recipe rut. There are two or three favorites that I rotate, but outside of those, I was out of ideas! I started looking for recipe blogs and found Kristy's Recipes. This girl's stuff is GOOD! So far we have tried the Chicken Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese Bake, Penne with Chicken and Broccoli in White Wine Cheddar Sauce, and Chipotle Chicken and Bean Nachos. Seriously, everything was SO good! Chris even ate leftovers (a small miracle in itself!). :)


WARNING: These are definitely NOT low fat recipes (lots of Velveeta...ha!), but you could modify them to make them less fattening.

Sunday Luke and Ashley came over. Chris needed Luke's help building a dog house, and Ashley and I had some wedding projects to work on, so we got to work and then ate dinner.

We painted the pots for Ashley's ceremony decor. They are regular ceramic pots, but we painted them a charcoal gray color. They will have apples in them. The paint color she chose is seriously so pretty, and it's textured too. They turned out really cool!

Before the second coat.

All the pots.
My sweet hubby working on the dog house in the crazy heat!
The base of the dog house (and Stella "helping").
Almost done!

Benelli saying "Hi."

Done! Stella isn't laying in it, but I promise she loves it! She has been sleeping in it and has been in it almost every time I go out there!

I am working on several small projects around the house, so I will post before and after pictures later. For now, laundry is calling my name. :)

I just love these two...

Cameron's Wedding

Last Saturday we got to see Cameron and Amanda get hitched! FINALLY it was here! :)

The wedding was beautiful, and Amanda looked gorgeous in her dress...Cameron looked alright too...ha! Chris and I talked about how it was really sweet to see a couple repeating their wedding vows now that we are married...it means more than weddings did before I was married. It was really sweet, and I teared up....we are so happy for them both!

I didn't get any pictures with the bride and groom (I know, sad...), but here are pictures from the evening.

Cara, Kelly, and I at the reception.

Chris and I at the reception.

Kelly and I again.

Sweet girls from high school.....Katie, Melissa, Jenna, and me. I have the same picture from another friend's wedding two years ago, so we had to take an updated one! :)

The Chick-fil-a cow made an appearance of course! Here he is dancing with Amanda.
And with Cameron!
Kelly and I again...ha!

Married Life...

Originally I used this blog for wedding updates for our family and friends, but now that our wedding is over, we are going to use it to update family and friends on our lives. I PROMISE to keep it better updated now that I don't have a million things going on. :)

Married life is wonderful...although it is REALLY weird saying and writing my new name...I have almost said Bryant several times. We bought an SUV the other night (more on that in another post after I take pictures), and it was difficult remembering to write Nicole Payne on every signature line (and there were millions!), but at least it gave me practice! :)

I will update later with reception pictures, pictures from Cameron and Amanda's wedding, and the new vehicle.

Bridal Photos

My photographer and good friend Lea Ann did a FABULOUS job! Enjoy! :)