A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas of 2011 was our second Christmas as a married couple, our eleventh together overall, our first with Molly and in our new home! It was a wonderful Christmas filled with love, joy, and time spent with friends and family. I was so excited to decorate the house for Christmas, it was something I always enjoyed doing with my mom growing up. Hunter just rolls his eyes and lets me do it, he really is getting the hang of my decorating obsession, he doesn't even ask me how much I spent anymore!

Pinterest creation... 

Love Christmas cards, we sent out our first one this year! 

       

 

Pinterest creation... our wedding invitation in a Christmas ornament. 

On the eve of Christmas Eve we had friends over to celebrate, it was lots of fun. However, I should have taken more pictures, story of my life. Here are a few of my favorites!

BFFs

My love

Molly greeted guests as Santa... for about 30 seconds.

Family Christmas photo

Pinterest creation... no one would eat the damn veggies because they didn't want to mess up the tree! 

 

Something was REALLY exciting

Love them. 

So on Christmas Eve I couldn't wait any longer, and Hunter, myself and Molly opened Christmas gifts! Disclaimer: do not judge me for wrapping my puppy's gifts and for taking pictures when she opened them. For now, she is my child and Christmas is all about the kids. There, I said it.

yumm, new rawhide chews

                

 

On our way to the Wood house Christmas morning! 

This was my first Christmas morning that I did not wake up at my parents house... I actually didn't cry! Ever since we got engaged, Christmas mornings have been a little hectic and not quite what I was used to, but I'm finally getting the hang of our new Christmas morning routine. First thing Christmas morning we went to the Wood house, opened gifts and then got to the Crews house by 10:30. Then it was to the Showalter house to find out if we were going to have a niece or nephew in May! 

              

                     The grandmothers were pretty excited about finding pink gifts! 

Trey was also pretty excited about getting a little sister :) 

Can't wait to meet Charlotte! 

Trey's gift to Charlotte!

    

After the gender reveal we went back to my parents house to sit around the fire with family.

This was quite the post, I just realized how crazy the last few days have been. This Christmas was a very, merry one indeed. 

Let Us Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Good food, time spent with good friends and family, and time to reflect on how blessed we ALL truly are. In the last couple of years I have redirected my energy and thoughts from all of the things I wish I had, to being thankful and happy about all of the wonderful things I already have. You know what happened? I have never been more happy in my life, and to be honest, I have been blessed with even more. BE THANKFUL, people! Yes, the economy is not doing so hot, unemployment is up, and politicians have officially lost their minds. But lets face it, you could be living in war torn Syria, or the slums of India, or under the rule of Kim Jong Il for goodness sakes. Lets go back to 1621, Plymouth, MA. Talk about life not being so great! The colonists just made it through a long winter and with the help from the Wampanoag they made it to their first harvest. So, they sat down and gave thanks together. Fast forward 242 years, our country was almost three years into the Civil War. Despite the atrocities that war had on Americans, Lincoln still declared that every November the United States would celebrate a day of Thanksgiving. Its all about perspective people, and we should all be very thankful. Excuse my history lesson... it happens. On the news there are people camping out in front of electronic and toy stores in preparation for Black Friday. Its Thanksgiving, go home to your families, watch the Thanksgiving parade, maybe a little a football, and reflect on the blessings that you have. Set an example to your children that this time of the year (and life in general) should not be about obtaining material objects, but instead giving and receiving love. I hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving, and that it is filled with lots of love and thanks!

This year I am thankful for: my loving family, my wonderful husband, the best puppy in the world and all the joy she has brought us this year, our beautiful first home, great friends- that I do not see enough, my amazing job and my supportive co-workers, Hunter's new job as estimator at his company (he is great at it by the way, very proud!), and I am thankful for the overall happiness that I have. Life is good. 

Do You Remember?

The year was 2001. Brittany Spears topped the charts, the latest Harry Potter book was on everyone's reading list, it was the first year of the Xbox, and gas prices were under $2! At times, 2001 feels like it was just yesterday, but 10 years have gone by... a lot has changed. Thankfully, Brittany is no longer topping the charts. Unfortunately, there are no Harry Potter book (or movie) releases to look forward to, and today it cost me $60 to fill up my gas tank. But there is still one very important constant in my life: my love for Hunter Crews. Ten years ago today, Hunter Crews asked me to be his girlfriend outside of Mr. Clyburn's room right before 1st period. When we were in high school we dreamed about our future together, marriage, a home, and children. Unrealistic, I know, right?  But our dreams have come  true. Ok, so puppy parents for now, all in good time people, all in good time.  We had our minor break ups, but they made our relationship what it is today. We are so incredibly blessed to have each other and the wonderful life that we have together, it is hard to believe that this picture was taken ten years ago:

A few years ago I heard Jack Johnson's song, "Do You Remember" and it made me think about what our life would be like together when we hit the 10 year mark. We are living that life. Great jobs, a new house, and our precious pup! The last 10 years have been the best, I am looking forward to the next 90 together. Yup, 90!

"I was crazy about you then and now
The craziest thing of all,
Over ten years have gone by
And you're still mine,
We're locked in time
Let's rewind..."

I love you, Hunter Crews!

Happy Fall, Y'all!!

Its that time of the year again, the leaves are turning, the weather is crisp in the morning and warm in the afternoons, and I am beginning to count down the days until a the next break from my students... ;)
More importantly, I get to decorate my house for fall! Not Halloween, but fall... there is a difference.  I think I did a pretty good job this year with the outside of the house, a wreath, mums, and some pumpkins... thats all I need!

I made the wreath out of burlap, I love it! 

My sweet pup... ok, ok... dog!

Speaking of Halloween... I was really excited about our first Halloween at our new house! Especially getting trick-or-treaters, I even bought candy over a month ago in preperation. How many kids rang our door bell you ask? Four. Four kids, and only two door bell rings. However, we did get one very special trick-or-treater!

HEDWIG! (Harry Potter's Owl)
aka Trey Crews! 

Love this kiddo with his bear hugs and ginormous kisses! 

P.S. Twenty four days until Thanksgiving and fifty three days until Christmas!! But until then, happy fall y'all! 

What? We Aren't in College Anymore?

This weekend we traveled up to Boone for Appalachian State Homecoming! We started the tradition last year, and we have already started planning for next year... can you tell we didn't have any fun?! Its amazing to me that we have been out of college for three years now, I feel like we just graduated yesterday. I don't know why that is so hard for me to understand, Hunter and I definitely do not act like we were just in college... in bed by 10pm most weekends, and we have a beer once a month, maybe... yeah, lamest 24/25 year olds ever. BUT, we are cool enough to rent a sweet cabin for homecoming weekend with our college friends and party like its 2007... kinda. And by kinda, I mean we were too tired from Friday night shenanigans/tailgating/football game to celebrate the Mountaineer victory. We got back Saturday night, cooked a wonderful family style dinner, and most of us crashed. But I guess thats just the way it goes, and I am perfectly okay with it!  In the morning, we all got up early and went to breakfast at the Daniel Boone Inn, it was delicious! After breakfast most of us went shopping at the outlets and spent money we shouldn't have... or was that just me? And if we were 21 year old college students, we would have been too hungover to have enjoyed such a wonderful weekend in Boone with great friends! Here are a few "crazy" pictures of our awesome weekend!

Red Bear Cabin- App. Homecoming 2011

Grandfather Mountain in the distance.

Grandfather Mountain.

 

                                         

                                                 My love. 

My favorite part of the drive.

Of course we could not wait to get home to our sweet girl :)