January Birthdays

My last week off we celebrated some birthdays in our family.

First was dinner at Outback with my parents to celebrate my mom's birthday.

On Saturday night we celebrated our nephew's birthday. He turned the big 3-0!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated our niece's birthday with cookie cake.

Jason and his sister.

Happy Birthday Everyone!!

Christmas 2013

This year I had Christmas week off.

We started the week off with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate MC's birthday.

Jason and Baby C, MC opening gifts, delicious cheesecake

On Christmas Eve I baked cookies and wrapped gifts while Jason worked on his truck. That evening we went to Jason's aunt's house for Christmas Eve dinner with family. 

Christmas morning Jason and I opened our gifts to each other before eating breakfast at my parent's house. After breakfast we got ready and went to Jason's parent's house for Christmas dinner.  We had a delicious dinner, played bingo, opened gifts, and exchanged white elephant gifts.

the tree

It's a tradition to take photos in front of the fireplace every year.

Jason's mom and dad, Sparky, and Bella

Us with our pups!

We had Christmas dinner with my family the day after Christmas. 

the tree

Stockings on the mantle

Baby C's first Christmas; He slept through opening the gifts

Hanging out with baby C

A little smile

Family photo- only missing Scarlett!

We had a chill weekend and I got a lot done around the house. Now we have a clean house and all of the Christmas decorations are put away until next year.  

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

An Update

Well, it's been awhile. Unfortunately, being busy and having construction workers on our street knock out our cable/internet three times over the last couple of weeks have kept me from blogging.

My last off week we had a lot happening! 

It started off with a great small group on Monday night.

Tuesday, Jason and I took the pups on a long walk. We found a really nice trail near our house that follows a river.

Taking a break by the water

Tuesday night the family went out to dinner to celebrate Charles's birthday. We had a delicious dinner at Olive Garden and even got free dessert!

Singing "Happy Birthday"!

Wednesday was an around the house day. The bug man and the cable man both came by, so I had to be  at the house. I did get out for dinner with Jason and some of our friends at Outback.

Thursday was a really fun day. I got to have lunch with my dad and do a little shopping. I bought a few new fall things at the Loft and got some decorations for the house at Hobby Lobby. That evening after dinner, Jason and I went to a nearby fair. It was free admission night! We didn't ride any of the rides, but we did check out the horse show, petting zoo, tractor display, and have a funnel cake!

Friday was a chill day which was good. Saturday, we headed up to Chattanooga to meet some of my aunts and uncles and cousins for a surprise baby shower for MC. She was definitely surprised, and we all had a good time. 

Diaper Cake

Opening gifts- My aunt made this blanket for Baby C

My aunt also made this cake! It was delicious! All the baby shapes are pieces of chocolate.

Since we were already so close, Jason and I went with Mom and Dad up to their new property. We wanted to check it out! It was pretty grown up so we came prepared with boots, machetes, and a chainsaw attachment for Jason's weed eater. I'm glad we got to see where Mom and Dad will be building their house. It's definitely a nice piece of property in a nice area.

Daddy and I with our tools!

Sunday, we went to church and did our grocery shopping. Then we had some of our friends over for dinner. It was good to catch up with them! 

After dinner we headed over to do a physical assessment with our new personal trainer. She is a very close friend of ours who trains out of her basement. We're going to try to have sessions with her twice a week. I love working out, and I'm excited to be able to make it something Jason and I can do together. Our first official session was Monday afternoon, and it went really well. 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

I'm looking forward to the start of another off week, and hopefully finding some time to post about our Disney trip and the wedding we went to this weekend.

Birthday Celebration

Last week was my birthday. We did a couple of things to celebrate last weekend. Mom and I got our nails done, and Jason and I did some birthday shopping.

The real celebrating started on Monday though. Jason's parents and one of his nieces came up Monday. They made me a special birthday dinner along with some strawberry shortcake dessert. After dinner, we took Big Red for a spin on the lake. It was a really nice evening for a ride. We even took Daisy and Bella (Jason's mom's dog) along for the ride!

Daisy and the sunset

Tuesday was my actual birthday. We started the day off with the iServe food truck. Then we grabbed some breakfast and headed home. Our plan was to get ready and go to Athens for lunch and go to the Botanical Gardens. When we got ready to leave my car wouldn't start. Jason finally got it to start after doing some tinkering under the hood, but it made for a late start to our trip. 

We had a late lunch at Ted's Most Best. We had never been there before but had heard it was good. I even saw a blurb about it in Southern Living Magazine! We had a meatball slider appetizer, Caesar salad, and arugula pizza. Everything was delicious. It was such a beautiful day that we ate on their patio. 

On the patio

After lunch we walked over to GiGi's Cupcakes for dessert. I love those cupcakes! They were having a special so we ended up with 3 cupcakes. Yum!

Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Wedding Cake

Since we got a late start and had to be back home for dinner, we decided to skip the Botanical Gardens and come back another time. We did have time for a quick stop at The Loft, and I got some new clothes as part of my birthday gift from Jason. 

That night we had dinner with my family at a local restaurant called Antebellum. The restaurant has a really cool atmosphere and the food was delicious too. I had the shrimp and grits.

Outside the restaurant

Shrimp and grits

We didn't get dessert because we had cake waiting for us at home, but I definitely want to go back for dessert. The dessert menu looked great!

Mom and Charles made me a hummingbird cake which was delicious! Charles took the time to put 26 candles on the cake. I tried to blow them all out but only got 22. Must mean I'm still just 22 instead of 26! :) 

Birthday cake

It took all 3 of us to cut the cake!

After cake I opened my gifts and we took a new family photo. Only one is missing- sweet Scarlett. Hopefully, she will be able to visit my parents soon. She has been doing very well with her potty training!!

Family

It was a great birthday! I'm very thankful to have spent it with the ones I love!

Thirty

Today is Jason's thirtieth birthday!

We did some celebrating over the weekend. Two of Jason's good friends from North Carolina came down on Friday to spend the weekend with us. Friday night, we had a delicious dinner at the house. Jason cooked the steaks, and I took care of the rest. It wasn't a very nice weekend, so Saturday we headed over to the mall. We walked around, had some lunch, and did a little shopping. At Brookstone, the guys found the massage chairs. Needless to say, we were in Brookstone for awhile...

Boys in the massage chairs

Later Saturday afternoon, we headed to my parent's house for Jason's surprise party! Jason knew I had something planned for his birthday, but he didn't know what it was. He said he was surprised! We had a great time at the party with lots of family and close friends. I did a Ford truck theme for the party since Jason is a big fan. I didn't even think to take a picture of the decor, but I did get a picture of Jason's cake. I had Elaine, who made our wedding cake, make Jason a strawberry cake in the shape of a truck. It looked great and was delicious!

Strawberry truck cake!

Here are more pictures from the party:

The "Ogres"

Jason and I

Opening gifts and reading cards...

Sunday morning we went to Northpoint Community Church. Jason's friends wanted to check out Andy Stanley's church because they listen to his podcasts a lot. It was a great service. After a quick lunch, it was time for them to head back to North Carolina.

I snapped a quick picture before they left.

Sunday afternoon we spent some time with Jason's family. Then last night we had Jason's birthday dinner with my family. Charles and MC were in town this weekend so they were able to come too. We also got to spend time with our dachshund niece, Ruth! She's still a cutie, and Daisy was being a little nicer to her last night.

Jason is the dog whisperer

Dear Jason, 

Happy birthday sweet husband!

I hope you have a fabulous 30th birthday. I love you and am so blessed to call you my best friend and my husband. Thirty will be a great year!

Twenty-Five

Yesterday was my birthday, and I am officially 25 years old.

It's a little bit hard to believe...

The celebration started last week when Jason, my parents, and a couple of friends surprised me with a birthday dinner. Jason smoked some salmon, our friends brought over all the sides, and Daddy made his famous banana pudding for dessert. It was a fun surprise!

Birthday Cupcake

The birthday celebration continued with a trip to the lake with friends on Sunday after church. It was a perfect lake day, not too hot. Jason got a new camper grill, so we were able to grill hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. It was yummy! We stopped at a marina for a choco taco for dessert!

Love!

Jason driving the boat!

Beautiful skyline when we got home from the lake!

Yesterday I woke up to a chicken biscuit from Chick-fil-A, beautiful pink roses, and a sweet card from Jason.

My mom also decorated our doors in the basement with Happy Birthday banners!

Jason and I went shopping yesterday for my birthday. It was fun to spend time with Jason even though I wasn't able to find anything for myself. We had lunch at Moe's and then Sweet Monkey's for dessert!

After shopping Mom and I went to get our nails done. I got a manicure and pedicure. It was relaxing and good quality time with my mom.

Love the natural color I picked!

For dinner I got to pick the restaurant, so we headed to Maggiano's. We ate some yummy Italian food and even had leftovers to bring home!

Back at home, I opened the gifts from my parents- a beautiful green scarf and the Shark steam cleaner!

I have been wanting one of these! I can't wait to clean with it :)

Mom made my birthday cake, a sour cream cake. It's my Nana's recipe. Sour cream cake has always been my favorite of Nana's!

Cutting the cake. It was delicious!

It was a great birthday! I am very thankful for my family and friends who made it special!

Happy Birthday Daisy Duke!

In the summer of 2006 there was one thing that I really wanted, a puppy!

We already had one dog though, and my dad had always said we could only have one at a time.

It was the weekend before the 4th of July when Daddy said I could get a puppy. We were picking up Charles's friend to go to the lake and saw her two dogs. I told my dad that she had two dogs and asked why we couldn't have two! Then, he said that I could have a new puppy if I wanted one! I was so excited and couldn't even believe he agreed to it. I immediately told him that he couldn't take it back. I spent the rest of the day at the lake deciding what kind of puppy I wanted and what to name it.

I decided I wanted a miniature dachshund and her name would be Daisy Duke. When we got home that night, we found an ad in the newspaper for a female miniature dachshund. She was about an hour and a half away, but I didn't care. I wanted to get my puppy as soon as possible before my dad changed his mind!

On the 4th of July we made the trip to get sweet Daisy. The breeder only gave us directions to the Wal-Mart and told us to call her when we got there. We arrived at the Wal-Mart and couldn't get in touch with the breeder. She was not answering the phone! I called over and over. I was almost crying at Wal-Mart because I was afraid we would have to go home empty handed. Finally, she answered the phone and gave us the rest of the directions. 

As soon as I saw Daisy's sweet face, I knew I had to take her home! Daisy was an angel that first night, but the second night she was home we were both up crying! She didn't want to be in her crate, and I felt so sorry for her. She weighed less than 2 pounds when we took her to the vet for the first time. She was so tiny!

Daisy has been such a blessing to me. She is the most loving dog. She loves to snuggle and give lots of kisses. And whether we've been gone 2 seconds or 2 days, she is always happy to see us! I am thankful to have her to sleep with me during the day when I'm working and to protect me when Jason has to travel.

May 8th is Daisy's birthday. My little Daisy is 6 years old today! I can hardly believe it. It definitely went by quickly.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Daisy over the years:

Daisy when she weighed less than 2 pounds!

She loved playing with my shoe

This picture of me is awful, but you can see how small she is!

Daisy and Suzi were best friends!

Daisy LOVES belly rubs!

Daisy also loves tennis balls and playing fetch.

Daisy loves going for a walk

Daisy loves riding in the car with her head out the window!

Daisy loves to perch on the couch and look out the window

Daisy on the boat last summer; she had a blast!

 I love that Daisy cocks her head when you talk to her! She's so funny.

Daisy loves snuggling with Jason!

She likes her sweater when it's cold outside.

Our Sweet Family

Happy Birthday Miss Daisy Duke!

We love you!