2011 In Review

Lets see if I can remember month by month what happened in 2011..
{JANUARY}
SNOW SNOW SNOW!! South Carolina had so much snow that school was out for a whole week (I was out of work for 3 days!)

Wesley and my Dad's birthday

I started blogging! Read my first post here.

{FEBRUARY}
My birthday of course!

February is always a slow month..to be honest I wouldnt really like it to much if it wasnt my birthday month!

{MARCH}
Wes and I spent some time in the mountains working at my parents house.

Mom, Jodi and I started a cake decorating class which we loved. 

We found out that we were having another nephew!

I hosted a bridal shower for my friend Sarah

{APRIL}
Emily, Tommie, Wyatt and I escaped to the beach for a few days!

What stands out the most for this month is finding out about Jodi.

She was diagnosed with leukemia on April 20th and her and my parents moved to Houston, TX for sevenish months on April 21st

We had her first fundraiser in Clemson and ordered the Rockstar shirts

{MAY}
Jodi's birthday

Our 2nd wedding anniversary...man time flies!

Jodi had her first round of chemo and I was tested to see if I was a match for stem cell transplant

Lake time begins!

{JUNE}
Tommie and I drove out to Houston for a few days! So excited to finally see Jodi and my parents :)

Found out I was a perfect match for Jodi.

I got to see Alix, Scott and Ben in Texas
Moms birthday.  Gee's 90th Birthday celebration.  Met Wes's cousins for the first time (besides facebook

{JULY}
Head out to Texas for two weeks to have the transplant.

Stop by New Orleans on the way with Dad

Jodi gave me my first official Texas cowboy boots

Dabo's Lady Football Clinic...loved it!!!

Had Jodi's big fundraiser that Ive been working on for a while.  Live auction!

My second nephew was born! Matthew :)

{AUGUST}
Jodi had her part of the transplant

Sarah and I went to the mountains for a weekend

Went to see The Help!

Had my 10th High School Reunion

My life went to Girl Scouts.  Spent about every night working recruiting girls until November

{SEPTEMBER}
FOOTBALL!  College football finally starts and man what a season Clemson had!

Got to see Alix and Ben again! Twice in one year!

This month mainly consisted of football, tailgate and Girl Scouts

{OCTOBER}
Virgina Tech with Heather.  So much fun

Again...lots of football, traveling, Girl Scouts.

{NOVEMBER}
More football..not a good month for Clemson though!

JODI AND MOM COME HOME!  They came home on November 9th!  So excited

November 16th was Jodi's 100th day post transplant

Wyatt's 4th Birthday

My cousin Sterling got married...so great to see all my family on Dad's side.

My cousins Brooke and Josh's baby has heart surgery

Thanksgiving at Memas :)

Decorate my house for Christmas

{DECEMBER}
My tigers beat VT and are ACC Champs!

Lots of time off from work!

Love family time at Christmas

Playing with my new camera

Christmas Party and bon fire at my house for our friends

Found out some very exciting news from a friend

Now that I look back 2011 was scary, exciting, rewarding and really made us appreciate FAMILY!  Heres to a healthy 2012!

Christmas Recap!

We had a great Christmas and I am little sad that is all over!  I swear my house is so depressing now without my tree and all the decorations!  Oh well!  Christmas Eve, Wes and I went over to my parents for our Christmas traditions.  Mom and Dad make oyster stew and brownie pie.  Not sure how we started that tradition but I love it!  Wes and I were so excited about our gifts that we gave Jodi and Dad, here they are:



We made her the door shelf from pinterest.  I also had glass shelves made

Wes had this at his farm that his grandfather used to use.  Dad was excited to have more things for the mountain house

Here are some more pictures from Christmas Eve

Of course I didnt take any pictures of myself or my presents.  But from my family I got a really pretty leaf necklace from Jodi and a cookbook holder.  My parents gave me lots of things.  The rest of my Willowtree nativity scene, cake pop stuff, square tier cake pans, tuperware, a new ornament (picture above) and I think thats it? Everything is put away so I cant remember right now.

Then Wes and I went home and decided to open our presents to each other.  Before we went to my parents he let me open one and it was this...

I asked for one but I didnt expect all of this! I was super excited.  He also gave me some more tuperware (can you tell I really wanted some), The Help and these.. 

A Visa gift card and then some more stocking stuffers...I think that was it.

Christmas morning we headed over to Tommies to see what Santa brought Wyatt and Matthew and then exchanged gifts.  Emily and Levi gave us this for our bedroom..yay!

I also got several nice things there too, but of course no pictures.  But I do have these pictures:

More of my boys...

Well, that pretty much sums up our Christmas.  We are very blessed and had a great one!  Now its time to get ready for the New Year!!

WILW

I'm Loving...that I got to see my two favorite little men this past weekend.  Wes always forgets to tell me when his sister and her boys are coming in town for the weekend until the last minute.  So about 5:00 on Friday he called and said...forgot to tell you but Emily is in town.  So glad that I didn't have big plans this past weekend and I could finally spend some time with them.  They are too cute!

 

I'm Loving...that Jodi is living in Greenwood for a little while! We haven't lived in the same town since 2005!  What is even better is that we have our date night tonight.  She comes over every Wednesday for supper.  Tonight we are having one of our favorites...french onion pork chops! yum!

**She goes to Texas on Sunday for a couple days for her monthly check-up...I know we will hear more great news!**

 

I'm Loving... that this was the first thing I saw on facebook this morning!Give a Spit about Cancer 

This website is trying to raise awareness about becoming a bone marrow/stem cell donor.  (Easiest way to be an organ donor..trust me!)

I'm Loving...my Heather! Her birthday was on December 2 and we are finally meeting up in Anderson (with Jodi) and going to have her birthday dinner.  We are both pretty busy lately so it took a couple weeks before we both had an open night! Cant wait to see her :)

I'm Loving...this season! I am just so happy during Christmas time...and no it is not because of presents ;)  I love having get-togethers with family and friends.  I love all the decorations and most everyone just seems happier this time of  year!

I'm Loving...I will be on Christmas Vacation starting this time next week.   Next Wednesday is my last day of work until 2012! Yay!!  I have some projects around the house that I really need to do...lets hope I stay motivated :)

 

Oranges everywhere!

I try not to talk only about football on here because I know people may get tired of it...but it is my passion so I will have one more post about my Tigers :)  (ok I am lying..it wont be my last...but probably the last of 2011 ;)

We had a huge game this past Saturday against Virginia Tech and we won!!!  We have now beaten the Hokies twice this season!  Not only did we win but we also won the ACC Championship!  It was so much fun and I don't remember the last time I was so excited at a game.

I knew it was going to be a good day when we (Me, Sam, Stephanie and Blaine) walked to the stadium a few hours early and saw that Dierks Bentley was having a free concert!  That was like a good omen :)

Then it was finally game time!  Here are a few pictures from that awesome night!

We are going to the Orange Bowl!  There were oranges everywhere that night (and at Clemson this week).  Pre-season, who would have thought Clemson would be going to a BCS bowl...I know I sure wasnt!!


One of the funniest parts that night was when the Orange Bowl representative was there and this song began playing over the speakers:

It was too funny!  The worst part of the night was trying to find our car!! We walked around forever before we find it.  Glad Sam was there! Not a big fan of the dark in a city! haha


Next game will be at the BCS Orange Bowl against West Virginia on January 4th! Cant wait!

Christmas Movies!

Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge Day 3

 I am loving Amber and Neely's Holiday Blog Challenge :)

Today is all about my favorite Christmas Movies that I must watch every year!!  I already watched my MOST FAVORITE Christmas movie (we will probably watch it one or two more times too)

I also enjoy watching the following movies but they aren't a necessity like "Christmas Vacation" is: The Holiday...I love this movie year round!

Who doesn't love A Charlie Brown Christmas!!

 You can never go wrong with Vince and Reese!

I usually watch bits and pieces of this movie, it is defiantly a classic

Buddy the Elf..Whats your favorite color??

I am also a sucker for a good Lifetime/Hallmark movie too! Cant wait to watch some more of my favorite Christmas movies!! :)

Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge (Day 1 and 2)

 I am back for another post today. I saw several people do this and had to get caught up! :)

Day 1: Best Gift You've Received 

I really can not think of the best gift I have ever received.  I have been very blessed and gotten pretty much what ever I asked for.  I don't think this technically counts as a Christmas present but I received this on December 19, 2008:

 My ring :)

Day 2: Christmas Traditions

Wes and I have a few traditions for just the two of us and we have several that we do with our families...

Wes and I:

• We take our 4-wheelers out to the farm and go on a search for the perfect cedar tree to cut down (we have done this 2 of the 3 years we have been married...last year we bought one).  This is usually done the Sunday after Thanksgiving
• I decorate the house (everything besides the tree) the Friday after Thanksgiving and then I decorate the tree Sunday afternoon
• We always watch Christmas Vacation the night we decorate the tree.  At some point in December we will watch Elf and a few other movies too.
• We wake up super early on Christmas Day and exchange our presents and stockings.  It is really nice to do this just us without everyone else.  I love it.

 My Family:

• We have Christmas Eve supper at my parents house.  It is just me, Wes, parents, Jodi and Mema.  We have oyster stew with brownie pie and ice cream for dessert.  Not sure how that tradition started..but it isn't Christmas until I have that! (I just eat the stew part and she puts sausage in it...I do not eat the oysters!)
• After supper, Jodi and I go to the living room and arrange the presents by where people sit and then it is time to open them.  Growing up Dad hated when everyone opens presents at one time because it is chaotic and always miss something.  So we start the youngest to the oldest opening one gift at a time.  I am always the youngest (until someone has babies) so it is nice!  It also last more than 5 minutes.
• We switch out with his family and my family for Christmas Day dinner.  We either go to Mema's for lunch or his mom's

  Wes’s Family:

• His family Christmas really varies every year.  It really depends on what everyone's schedule is like.  But the past three years we wake up really early and head over to his parents house to open presents.  It is great because we are there when Wyatt see's his gifts from Santa!
• After presents, we will have yummy breakfast...usually monkey bread!
•  Like I said earlier, we rotate Christmas Day lunch.  We either have lunch or supper at his parents, depending on when we all can be together.
• His family usually has another Christmas get together with the Harling's (his mom's side of the family) but that is a different date each year.
• We always spend the majority of Christmas Day at his parents. So fun seeing Wyatt on Christmas :)

Now I am all caught up with the Holiday Blog Challenge :)  I wasn't very good at taking pictures last year so I don't really have any to share..I will have to fix that this year!

I love this time of year!

One of my favorite things to do is to decorate my house for Christmas!  I absolutely love it!  I found a few things I wanted to make from Pinterest, so my sister, Tiffani, and I decided to have a craft day this past Sunday and make a few things.  Jodi and I both wanted to make this...

 But when we went shopping the other day for supplies..this was going to be so expensive! Who knew little red berries would cost so much.  I mean if you only need like 10 or so its cheap...but I didn't want to spend $50 on berries! So we had to go to plan B.  Jodi and I both got letters to make a door hanger and she made redneck wine glasses also.  Here are some pictures from craft day! :)

I loved making these so much...even Wes helped a bit.  He took charge of taking the labels off the wine glasses for me :)

OK..more Christmas stuff.  I had to share my decorations with you guys too.  Sunday (before craft day) Wes and I went to the farm, took our 4 wheelers and went on a hunt for the perfect Christmas tree.  It was actually a lot of fun and a neat tradition!  We got it narrowed down between 2 trees and I finally decided on the perfect one.  We got it home and I put the lights on (like 5 or 6 strands) and my bows and took a break.  Later that night, I spent a couple hours putting my ornaments on.  I was so please with it! I couldn't stop looking at it.  Around 10pm Wes and I decided to go to sleep.  Well, we heard a HUGE crash...we both thought it sounded like someone breaking a window to break in the house.  Wes jumped up, grabbed his shot gun (yes he keeps it under his side of the bed..so don't break in, ok? :) and went to investigate.  Well, it was our tree!! It fell on my coffee table which is what the awful sound was.  I was so sad.  Nothing broke but about 90% of the ornaments were thrown across the room.  All we did was pick the tree up and I left everything as is until I got off work last night.  Anyways..I just had to share that story.  The pictures below are of the tree after I decorated it the second time! (It will not fall again...Wes nailed the stand to the floor haha)

Ok...here are pictures of our decorations!

That is it!  Hope you liked the Christmas Tour of my house! :)  I better get back to work...hope everyone has a great day!