'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

I am SO excited for Christmas this year! It isn't our first Christmas together, but it is our first Christmas in our house so I had tons of fun decorating! I have actually been really on the ball this year with presents and things. I had the tree up before Thanksgiving and all my presents have already been gotten and wrapped! For a girl who is rarely only 15 minutes late, let alone on time, this is a major accomplishment! :)

One of my favorite things to put out is my little nativity scene. I got it at a white elephant exchange in college and think it is just perfect. This year I noticed that the cow was missing a leg. In a true Christmas miracle, it would still stand up, unlike it's sheep friend who I just tell everyone is very tired; even though he has four legs, he still can stand up. Well, one day when I came home, Cory said "Look" and held up the cow for me to see. He had made it a prosthetic leg from a bobby pin! He is just so sweet and you can't even really tell! Keep in mind that he has lots of practice from making toys out of twist ties when he was a kid. Whenever a limb was lost, it was no problem. Dr. Cory was right to the rescue with a new twist tie replacement.

Our little Christmas tree! I love adding ornaments to our tree that mean something. This year we got three new ones, all gifts. One is a pretty pink shoe from my cousin, the another is an ornament with my initial from "the only girl" in my primary class and the other is a little snow globe with Cory's name on it from our sister in laws mom. She is super thoughtful and bought it just because it had his name on it. I am a little sad that I can't find one of my boxes with all the ornaments from last year that we bought for our first mini tree together. It is the price you pay for having your things stored all over the place. Maybe next year we will have a real tree and all of our ornaments.

I had this little snowman to go on top of the tree, but I thought he looked a little sad. I tried to make a bow to replace him with but it turns out that I am not so good at that. So now they are sharing the glory at the top of the tree in a sort of sad tribute to my lack of skills.

And finally, our christmas picture!

We hope everyone has a very safe and happy Christmas and New Year!

Hot Dog!

Last Sunday I was teaching my 5 year olds at church a lesson about being kind to animals. Sometimes lessons have things in them that I don't really know how to teach to five year old. The fact that Noah brought 7 of each clean animals so they could eat them makes sense to me at 24, but I'm not sure how my 5 year old self would have felt about that. Regardless, I charge forward and explain to children that sometimes killing animals is necessary for food and that is okay, but we should never kill an animal we won't eat. For some reason, I decide to ask the kids "What animals do you eat for food?" thinking they may say things like "cows" "chicken" "fish" ect. Well the first one to answer says excitedly "Dogs! We eat dogs!" I was literally speechless at this point. I just looked at the other teacher in the room in shock until he says "You know, corn dogs!" and then the boy beside him says "And hot dogs!" At this point I just want to burst out laughing. They were both so excited to answer the question and were doing so with absolute sincerity. It is called a corn dog so it must be made of dog, right?? I did my best to explain to them that we only call them that without going into detail of what hot dogs are actually made of because I don't think any of us really want to know. Kids sure know how to keep things interesting!

Looks Like We Made It!

Who would have thought these two crazy kids would now be celebrating their first wedding anniversary?? I'll tell you who: definitely not me! While I may not have expected it all those years ago, I am so grateful for it now. Cory is definitely my EC in every way! He loves me for my goofiness and calls me out when I'm being rediculous (traits I have decided are essential for husbands). It has basically been the best year ever.

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures from the wedding. People always say it is the happiest day of your life but for me that isn't true. It is the day that made all the other happiest days possible. We've definitely had a lot since then!

And they have all taught me a lot. For examples: Men do not know how to put clothes in a hamper. What sometimes seems very sensible to me seems crazy to my husband. No one can make me laugh like the guy beside me. My favorite memories aren't the ones I have pictures of or write about on my blog; they're the ones that are written on my heart. I am way spoiled by a wonderful man who will do pretty much anything to make me happy...And is also super excited to celebrate our anniversary.

So here we are. An entire year of marriage under our belts. It seems sort of crazy and it has definitely been an adventure! And definitely one I can't wait to continue!

Count Your Blessings

We have had an absolutely wonderful weekend. I feel so blessed to have all my family so close! Holidays are always so much fun. Before the Thanksgiving season is over, I just wanted to make quick thankful post. Lists are my favorite so here it goes, in no particular order (except for maybe #1 :)).

1. My husband and our almost one year of marriage. He really is amazing and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband. He gave a talk in church today and listening to him speak about the gospel and bear his testimony I felt so proud and blessed to have such a wonderful man for my husband.

2. My crazy, funny, awesome family. They really are all those things and I love them.

3. My Heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally and truly answers my prayers.

4. My silly puppies who always keep me laughing at their antics. I have a lab that points.

5. My sweet primary class. I never knew 5 year olds could be so smart. They have taught me so much and I am dreading giving them up at the end of the year.

6. My friends who just "get me."

7. Prayer. Can't say how much I love talking to my Heavenly Father.

8. My Savior who makes overcoming my mistakes and shortcomings so much easier.

9. Our jobs. Cory and I are both so blessed to have jobs in our fields that we enjoy. And coworkers who make us laugh.

10. The home we have built together. I love filling this house with memories and turning it into a home.

And so so many more!

Watts Cooking

I am a huge believer that our ancestors play a huge part in who their decendants become. Not like predetermination or anything, but just that them having a certain strong characteristic makes it easier for their decendants to develop that same characteristic. The more I learn about my ancestors and myself, the more I realize how similiar we are. In my life, it just makes sense and I kind of like it. I have always had a strong sense of who I am and who I want to be and learning about the amazing women in my family before me gives me some clues as to why that is. One thing I know I got from my grandmothers and mother is a love of cooking. I can remember being a littel girl and helping my Grandmomma make pickles (the only kind of pickles I have ever liked and I have yet to taste any similar) and loving my Granny's country cooking. I now have my very own kitchen and a husband who loves to try new things and am loving it! I try old and new recipies, yummy health food and delicious desserts. Basically, if it sounds good or interesting, I'll cook it. So I have decided to start posting some of my favorites on here.

First up are Pita Pizzas I made us for dinner the other day. They are REALLY simple and so yummy! All you do is take a pita (I used whole wheat) spread 1/4 cup of marinara sauce over it (I like Newman's Own) and add your favorite toppings. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and you're done! It was so nice because Cory and I have some different tastes when it comes to what we like on pizza and this way we both get to have it just how we like it. It was so easy we made extras to take for lunch. Check it out!

Mine has onions, artichoke and mozerella cheese. Cory added olives to his.

KIDS 101

Any day now, my best friend is going to be a MOM. I'm so excited for little Grace aka Peanut to get here, but not nearly excited as her awesome parents! Isn't she the cutest soon to be Mommy?!
As an aunt of 11 for 11 months today, I know a lot about kids. Really. Well, maybe not a lot but definitely something. So here it goes, just for you, Na: Everything you need to know about kids in one blog post or less!


1. First things first. Babies are adorable.

Everyone needs to know how much more adorable yours is than any other baby they ever imagined. You are lucky that you are already a professional photographer; that will make this one easier. You must be ready AT ALL TIMES to take a picture when they do something cute. I know what you are thinking, "what about actually enjoying those cute moments naturally when they come?" Terrible thing to think. What is the point of babies doing something cute if you can't post it on your blog later for EVERYONE to enjoy?

Exhibit A: Cute as a button baby face captured to bring joy to all who see it.

2. What's mine is mine; what's yours is mine too.

This is the baby mantra. It starts young. First they just go for little things like earrings or necklaces(nevermind you are wearing them), but they move to larger items very quickly. You should be careful how far you let this go, or she may turn out like this kid...

Notice the stolen shoes and obvious casing of the TV...

3. Privacy: Forget about it.

Kids have basically no concept of the word privacy. You are in the bathroom. They think "Who cares, I'm hungry!" Very inconsiderate. Babies are the worst about this, but it doesn't stop when they get older. That pile of laundry you were planning to wash? Nope. That is now dress up.

Your most intimate secrets will be EXPOSED.

4. Kids like to laugh.

So you need to know what is funny. Luckily, I have discovered the answer to this through my rigorous research.


Hilarious.

5. Kids are nosey.

They are always listening. You may be trying to have a private conversation, but if there is a kid within a mile radius, it's not happening. Who cares that they think you are the most interesting person they know? It's just rude.

So there you have it, my list of the 5 most import things to know about kids. ;)

Good Grief!

We have been having so much fun lately! Things have been busy, but definitely fun too! We had a great Halloween weekend going to a party with our ward friends as Charlie Brown and Lucy. Then drove to Georgetown to spend some time with my family and have some of my Papa's famous Catfish Stew followed by trick or treating with our super cute nephews! I felt like I needed a 10 hour nap by the end of everything, but it was definitely worth it! :)

Ethel May and Lola Faye

Last night while driving home from Cory's softball game we somehow got onto the subject of what we will name our children (at that time in the distant future when we have them). Well, here is how part of that conversation went:

Cory: "If we have a girl, or a lot of girls, we are going to name them things like Ethel May and Lola Faye."
Me: "Ummm...No."
Cory: "Well, we wouldn't call them that! Those would just be their middle names so they can use them when they are old ladies."

That's my husband, always planning ahead. :)

Halloween Advent Calendar

I love Conference Weekend. The messages and feelings I get out of this weekend are just amazing. The hard part about it for me is staying awake while the most soothing voices tell me all these messages! :) So this year I decided to work on some crafts during the sessions to help keep myself alert. Well, it worked because not only did I stay awake during all sessions, I also finished this adorable Halloween Advent Calendar from Oopsey Daisy I posted about last month. I'm really happy with how it turned out! Without Candy.

Candy!!!

Hide Yo Kids...

What does it say about me that I find this super funny and can't stop dancing to it? I'm not sure I want to know...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKsVSBhSwJg

Just Around the Corner...

I am SUPER excited for Halloween! I have always made fun of my mom for loving it so much, but now I am just the same. I have begun to resign myself to becoming my mom and starting to think that it isn't really a bad thing.
The other day she posted the link to this Halloween Advent Calendar and I thought it was so cute I had to share! I am planning to make my own and as soon as I do, I'll post the pictures!
http://oopsey-daisy.blogspot.com/2010/08/halloween-advent-calendar-tutorial.html

Now to think of a costume... I may even have to break out my sewing machine. We will see!

Where are YOU?

Right now my husband is out helping someone move. I was upstairs reading Pride and Prejudice when he got the call from his EQ president and when he came up to tell me, I must admit I was disappointed. Even though we weren't having "together time" the realization that it wouldn't be a possibility for the next few hours was not at all pleasing. Kind of funny how that works. At least I was able to finish my book, which only gets better each time I read it. Between readings I somehow forget the small things that make me love their story so much. It is nice to rediscover them.

Cory has never been to the apartments where this couple is moving so he had me tell him how I would go there before he left. It is a little ironic that someone who is so terrible with directions is married to a geographer who creates maps for the highway department. :) When he got into his car, he also plugged it into my GPS, which I have really lost ownership of at this point, and calls me when it tells him to go a different route than the one I gave him before he left. After assuring him that the route given by the GPS would take him where he wanted to go just as well, I told him to have fun and hung up. When I called about 15 minutes later to make sure he had gotten there okay (this is the man who once drove all the way to orangeburg trying to get home from the Fort Jackson building) I didn't get an answer. Immediately I know that he put his phone in the cupholder after we hung up and didn't think to put it back in his pocket when he got out of the car. How do I know this, you ask? Well, lets just say I have shed a few tears worrying over not being able to reach him after he assured me I would be able to only to be told "Sorry babe, I left my phone in the car." The fact that I really didn't need anything doesn't matter at that point. It bothers me that IF I needed to reach him, I couldn't. Silly, I know. It is strange what being so connected to another person will do to you. You think you are a totally independent person and then bam! a huge amount of your happiness depends on another person and how "reachable" they are! :)

Our New Nephew!

We got the phone call Friday evening that my sister in law, Jenn was starting to have contractions. When I went to bed that night, I neatly folded my clothes and put them by the bed because I just knew we were going to get a call in the middle of the night. Well, I was right! By about 2:30 a.m the contractions were close enough together for them to head to the hospital so Cory and I hopped out of bed and headed over to their house to stay with their older boys. Ever since life has been crazy, but those are stories for another post! Carson was born around 1:40 in the afternoon on Saturday and we took the boys up to see him a couple hours later. He is so precious and we are so glad to have another sweet boy in the family! His brothers are definitely in love!

They hadn't given Carson his official cleaning at this point and the boys made all kinds of faces at the little discoveries they found on him! It was so funny! Since it is only his first day in this world, I think we will forgive him for being slightly "yucky." :)

He has the sweetest little face!

Cory holding Carson looking so cute. His brothers are already so protective of him. Hampton wouldn't let go of his little trolley the entire ride from the nursery to Jenn's room. It was adorable.

Pearce loves to take pictures and so of course he had to take some of his new little brother. Right now he is getting a good zoomed in shot of the umbilical cord. :)

E&P's Wedding Weekend

A couple of weekends ago Cory and I took our first weekend trip since our honeymoon to go to a friend's wedding in Gastonia, NC. Aren't they so cute!?


We had such a wonderful time! We got there pretty late on Friday night so we just hung out with our BFF's David and Joel for a little while. The next day we played basketball at the YMCA before heading back to get ready for all the festivities. The ceremony was so sweet and the reception was awesome! Here we are all dressed up and ready for fun. :)


As you can see, there was a lot of dancing going on so I was loving it! The boys even danced with Peter's mom! They are so crazy!


After everything we went back to the hotel and watched USC beat Clemson in baseball which was pretty exciting (for me at least!). David and Joel both had to leave to go visit their families but Cory and I stayed the night and left Sunday morning. I originally wanted to stay and spend the day in Charlotte Sunday but we decided to just head back so I could teach my primary class. It was so worth it to see their sweet little faces and hear all the stories they had to tell me. I just love being a primary teacher!

Discoveries

I have boxes of my things still in the garage. This drives my poor husband nuts because that garage is "his place." After my repeated evasions from coming outside to unpack them, he has started bring boxes inside for me to look through. This is quite a challenge because I literally keep everything that has ever meant something to me in my life. Just tonight I uncovered some very sweet birthday cards from Cory, thank you notes from friends, letters from missionaries, and even some quotes on marriage I collected. Two of the quotes were from President and Sister Hinkley and they were just so sweet I had to share.

"I like this man a lot, but I like him sometimes a lot more than others."
-Sister Hinkley
I admit I feel this way myself sometimes.

"As I held her hand and saw mortal life drain from her fingers, I confess I was overcome. Before I married her, she had been the girl of my dreams, to use the words of a song then popular. She was my dear companion for more than two-thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord, really my superior. And now in my old age, she has again become the girl of my dreams."
President Gordon B. Hinkley
I will further admit that this makes me cry every time I read it, but I hope I am blessed with a love like that. It may take two-thirds of a century or more but I have a feeling we've made a good start. :)

Snapshots!

In the past few weeks Cory and I have done lots fun things! Here are some snapshots from some of the exciting stuff!

River Rats!

My family from Arizona came to visit last week and we had a huge river party on Saturday! We had so much fun! They are all awesome and I am doing my best to figure out how to move AZ closer to SC.
And how cute does Cory look holding my cousins baby!? And how about my adorbale pregnant best friend! Seriously, I a can hardly wait to meet "Peanut" Jennings! I am with Stephen and keeping my fingers crossed for brown hair. :)
(Disclaimer: These comments do not mean Cory and I are planning on kids anytime soon, I'm just saying...I like babies, pregnant people, and cute boys holding cute babies. This is not a crime.)

Beachin' It!

We also went to the beach last week and had a blast! It was so nice to be able to spend time with our family and friends. David had never been buried in the sand before (seriously, this man had a sad childhood) so we had a lot of fun making his dream of being buring come true! We even threw in a sand beard. It just doesn't get better than that!

My brother took this picture for us before we left and made fun of me for my "prom arm." I actually hate the hand on hip arm pose but if you don't do it then your arm looks all flabby and gross (well, mine does at least). Maybe I should just try flexing them or something. I don't know.

Wet 'N' Wild!

Finally, I set up a gaint slip and slide in our back yard and our nephews came over to play on it. Hampton and I had a blast! Everyone else pretty much just watched. But I love Hamp's face in the middle picture. He is definitely a tough guy!

Heathcliff the Conqueror

Cory and I wake up some nights to hear Heathcliff barking like a mad man, er, dog. He doesn't usually bark, so of course we go and check out the situation. Upon investigation, we discover this, just sitting on the ground, covered in bite marks and looking absolutely terrifying:

That's right, a storage bin is my dogs worst enemy. He bites it, drags it across the yard, pins it in a corner, and just in general roughs it up. Despite the beat down, it apparently still sometimes gets the best of him because when he barks at it, he won't go anywhere near it. I don't know what game he is playing in his head, but I just don't have the heart to take the bin away. So I guess I will sacrifice a little sleep all in the name of my dog having fun...I am pretty much a sucker for that guy. :)

Our New Addition!

Meet Heathcliff:

He is named after Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable. (The Cosby Show is one of my all time favorites!) We adopted him from the Richland County Animal Shelter last weekend! We both just feel in love with this guy, especially Cory! I really had wanted a puppy but Cory really does not have the patience for that yet. Heathcliff is only about a year old so he still has a lot of energy but isn't whiny like puppies are sometimes!

He LOVES to sniff things, mostly the ground. He is a pointer and needs lots of exercise! We have taken him for a few walks and runs and running is definitely easier! When we are walking he has his nose to the ground just like he is hot on the trail of something!

He also really likes to play fetch and Cory love to throw the tennis ball with him. That is a lot better than sticks, like he is using in this picture, because he just likes to chew on those!

Cory is trying to convince him to bring it back but...

Heathcliff is enjoying a snack!

So yeah, we have a dog! It is kind of crazy because it was sort of an on the spot decision. I was actually wanting to wait because when you are at the shelter you just feel so badly for the dogs and want to give them ALL a home. I wanted us to make a practical decision, not just an emotional one because a dog is a huge responsibility! Despite that, we decided to take him on a little walk just to see how we would get along. As soon as Heathcliff saw the goats they have at the shelter also, he went rigid. His nose went forward and his tail pointed straight out, just like in a cartoon. Well, Cory was sold from that moment on. So much for practical!

It's All in the Timing...

I am late for pretty much everything. Work, family get togethers, and basically anything with a start time. I am so bad about being late that in the four months we have lived in our new ward, we had not been on time ONCE. Sad, I know. Well, this weekend I had this conviction that I needed to change that and start being on time. It was branch conference and we had been instructed to bring a main dish, side and dessert. By 10:15 all the food was cooked and the kitchen was clean which in itself is a small miracle. (some credit for this is due to my sweet husband who made the brownies. :)) I got to bed by 11:15 and woke up at 7:30 without pressing snooze once. Waking up Cory at 8:30 was a bit of a challenge (our AC isn't working so he hasn't been sleeping well lately) but by 9:28 we were rushing out of the door. We walked in right as they were going over the announcements. Not right on time, but close enough for me! As long as I don't miss any of the songs I count it! :) I was so happy to be at church and on time too! It was such a great feeling. Our bishop was the first speaker and he is just wonderful. I really hope everyone feels about their bishop the way I feel about ours. I couldn't imagine anyone doing the job better! At the conclusion of his talk he said he wanted to ask a few people to come up an give their testimonies. I actually thought to myself "I'm sure glad that's not me!" about a second before he called my name. I have never been so shocked at church in my life! Even the time a very straight laced girl cursed in Sunday school while I was in the branch did not compare. I now felt like everyone was looking at me thinking "I'm sure glad that's not me!" I went up and gave my testimony which I'm sure half the congregation could not even understand because I was so emotional. (I blame my emotionalness on Naomi, I was never like that before we were roommates!) But for me the important part was that the bishopric had given my name to the stake presidency a week before and without knowing why I just knew I needed to be at church on time that Sunday. The experience not only allowed me share my testimony with my ward but also gave me the opportunity to make that testimony even stronger. I know the Lord guides my life and will prepare me for whatever challenges come my way. I am probably in for many more "not me" moments in my life but I know that the Lord will always provide a way for me to be prepared for them, even when I don't realize it. For that I am truly grateful.

Hello House, It's Nice to Meet You

We are finally starting to settle into our house and it really feels like home to me now. It is so funny that even though we worked on the house for months before we moved in, it still didn’t feel like our home. When we first bought it there was the period of discovering things the previous owners had left. The weird sheet in the cupboard under the stairs, the child’s writing on the back of the door, and even the stopped up tub. The house belonged to us, but those things weren’t ours. Through the months of remodeling, those things went away, but we were constantly discovering things about our house and its previous owners through our efforts. As I scrapped the layers and layers of wallpaper from the walls, I could imagine what the house looked like for all of the people who had lived there before us. To me, that stuff was a royal pain, but to them it was something that made the house their home. Now we have those things. I am so proud of the repainted fireplace, the colors I picked out and the new faucet where I was my dishes. All those things belong to me, and so does the house. Even though it felt like ours finally, it was still a stranger. Over the last few months I have gotten to know our house and it now holds many memories for us. It is the place where we had our first Valentines Day dinner and where I cooked dinner for my Grandfather for the first time, not mention the countless little everyday things that make our life together so wonderful. I am just as happy to see the handprint on the wall David left when he helped us move in and the nail sticking out of the one creaky step for the millionth time as I am the fresh clean paint and new fixtures. We have started to make our mark on the place with the help of those we love. I am so grateful for our home and the memories and life we have begun to build inside it.

A Visit

My grandfather came for lunch today. It was the first time he and his wife, Miss Anne had ever seen our house. My mom called me on Thursday to warn me that he was planning to stop by on his way home from visiting one of Miss Anne’s sons in the upstate. Now, I love my grandfather but I was terrified and immediately thrown into a tizzy. He is very no nonsense, has a way he thinks things should be and is very vocal about his opinions. Ever since I was a little girl I have known “Papa means business.” So you can imagine my despair as I looked around my little house at all the things out of place, things with no place, things not working, and things to make things work that were strung all over the place! Since then I have spent hours cleaning, organizing and just plain stressing out all for the end result of not that much difference! And you know what? He didn’t even care! He said it looked great and he thought we were doing a fine job of fixing everything and that pretty soon we would have it how we wanted. All that worrying over the boxes still unpacked in the office (and everything else) was for nothing! He totally understood. I guess the point I am trying to make with this story is that I’m glad my respect for my grandfather makes me set higher standards for myself and I’m glad his love for me helps him understand when I haven’t quite gotten there. It was really good for me to see that acceptance from someone I think so much of because I worry all the time about the state my house is in. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t let anyone in until it was absolutely perfect! Luckily I have Cory to realize that the people who love us will understand we are in the middle of a very long process and appreciate where we are now without thinking about how far we still have to go! The fact that is story applies to life as well as to houses is purely coincidental. :)

Papa and me at my wedding reception. Yes, I do wish I had inherited his dark skin tone but alas, no.

Our House

I have finally done it! I have made a collage to put on my blog. Hopefully they are not too small for you to see and you can click to make them bigger if they are. So here we go: Moving day and our new home!

We had such good friends and family come to help us unload everything from the U-Haul. Even my five year old nephew was willing to lend a hand and may have even unloaded more than me. ha! Well, I guess someone had to be there to document things.

These are our bedrooms. "Kat's room" is at the top right. We just got all that furniture put in today and I am so excited that we have a "real" spare bedroom now! The boy's room (bottom middle) is in kind of a sad state at the moment. When we go and get the bedroom suit for our room from my aunt next month, they will get the furniture that is currently in our room. I haven't been able to do much decorating upstairs yet, but it will be happening soon I hope.

The two left pictures are of our guest bathroom (aka the only bathroom with a working shower)up until this morning. We had to have a floor lamp because we hadn't gotten a light to put in there yet and a 3 dollar blanket from walmart served at the door (which we had gotten but just not cut and put up yet). But now we have a nice DOOR, light and new shower curtain! The only things left are the window treatment and a new sink!

Our kitchen is on the verge of being finished! We just have a few more cabinet doors to hang, a little decorating and putting on door knobs! So exciting!

These are pictures of our downstairs hall bath and den! They are looking so much better, although still not too much going on in the decorations department. I am learning that when it comes to home renovation, it is all about baby steps and patience. It is kind of nice to see a lot of baby steps in a row though!

We are having our first official get together tomorrow night for Cory's 23rd birthday. I am excited but also nervous because even though the house looks a lot better, it is still not exactly in show off condition. The fact that I am running on very low energy levels because of my oral surgery yesterday and am not supposed to bend over hinders my efforts quite a bit. I can get a good 10 minutes of work done before my body says "Not so fast missy" and I have to sit down for 30. Lucky my wonderful mother came over this morning to help get things straightened up a bit so I am not quite so worried as I was, but still. I hate feeling so helpless! But don't worry, I'm not overdoing it. I have had the fear of dry socket instilled very deeply into my brain and in no way want to be dealing with such terrible pain! Hopefully I can get in a good bit of rest today and be ready to go tomorrow (or everyone will be kind enough to over look the mess!).

Our First Valenties as Mr. and Mrs.!

So today I had oral surgery to remove a wisdom tooth and so I am pretty much out of commission for the next few days. What better time to start catching up on my blogging??

We finally were about to move into the house although were are still collecting our things from what feels like the four corners of the world. I think now were are basically done but I am almost to afraid to ever go and search through the storage unit for the rest of my things(except my silverware which is hopefully in there somewhere!).

So without further ado, a snapshot of our very first Valentines day as a married couple!

I stole the idea for a Candy Gram from my dear friend Naomi. It was so fun to make this for Cory!

The beautiful flowers Cory got me in an water purifier pitcher. At this point most of my things other than my clothes were still not here so even though I got two beautiful vases at the wedding, my flowers had to be displayed this.

Our dinner with plastic cutlery and paper plates because we didn't have the kitchen unpacked at this point. It was still yummy though!

Yes, this record player is glowing because it is so awesome. We listened to Alabama while eating our dinner. There may have also been some dancing. :)

My favorite part! We dipped strawberries and bananas in melted chocolate. Double yummy.

4 Days and Counting!

We have carpet! We have paint on all the walls! We will soon be living in a home of our own! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. Last night when we went to inspect the newly laid carpet, I couldn’t help but to throw off my shoes and just dance around the house. It is the first time I have been able to take my shoes off there since we got it and it was such a lovely feeling. It is so nice to feel like we have a home, not just a construction zone. Things are going according to schedule for us to move in this Saturday. I can tell you my little toes are happy. In the last two months I have tripped and stubbed my toes more times than I can count on boxes, school books and drawers left open around the house. My little space seemed cozy when it was just me living in it and now it has started to be on the unpleasant side of cramped. We only have four more days though! Not everything is going to be completely done when we move in. We will still have some work to do in the kitchen and bathrooms but it will be livable and that is really all I care about at the moment. I like having projects so I am excited to finish up things and make it cozy after we move in on Saturday.

Now back to the packing...

I really hate uploading picture but here are my two favorite rooms. Dining room with the kitchen cabinet doors in it.
The den all finished!

Our New Ward!

We have started going to our new ward and we both love it! Everyone is so nice and we already have callings. I am teaching CTR 5 and Cory is an assistant scout master. We are both very excited. I taught my first lesson last week and it was an adventure. I kept having to move them around during sharing time because they are very chatty but in the end I had the most reverent class. Yay me! J My nephew is in the class and he asked if he could sit in my lap and I said sure. Well, about 5 minutes later his little best friend tapped me on the shoulder and said “Sister Barber (who was their teacher last year) let two sit in her lap.” I got the hint and had two sitting in my lap through the rest of sharing time. J Class did not go quiet as well as I had hoped. I have learned quickly that to them class time means “freedom” so we are going to be having more active lessons from now on so hopefully I can actually teach them something. J I only teach every other week so I can get to know the sisters in Relief Society which is really nice. The girl I team teach with is new as well and her family will be here until May when her husband finishes a program at Fort Jackson. So after that I will be on my own. I am a little afraid of that but I also have a feeling I am really going to miss them next week.

Cory absolutely loves being involved with the scouts. He earned his Eagle when he was in scouts so he has the benefit of “been there, done that.” I think he is most excited about the camping trips. He has scouts on Wednesdays and then plays basketball, which I love because it gives me a chance to do all the girly things like watch chick flicks and organize things that I miss. It is very hard to do anything in our two tiny rooms when we are both there. I am so ready for February 6th to get here I don’t know what to do!
It is also nice being in the same ward with Cory’s brother and sister in law. Jenn is in primary with me and Mike is an assistant scout master with Cory so it is very fun. They have been so good about introducing us to new people and having us over all the time. We are definitely blessed to have them!

We went to the Elders Quorum social at the weekend and it was so much fun. We ate Barbeque and played games. It was very yummy and fun! It was so nice to meet more people from our ward and spend time with the people we already know! I am looking forward to many more exciting times there!

Here are a few snapshots from the Elders Quorum social:

It was really hard to run straight after all that spinning!

My nephew doing his crazy dance moves!

Mike and Trevor running the three legged race!

Steve and Cory in the saltines eating contest.

A Long December...

Wow. December was definitely a crazy month! It started off with our wedding on the 5th (Happy 1 Month Anniversary to us!) followed by Cory’s exams, our Honeymoon to Disney, my Grandmother’s passing the Monday before Christmas and finally a ton of Christmas and New Year festivities. I felt like I was on a crazy emotional roller coaster for the entire month. So many wonderful, yet very emotional moments.
Our wedding was an absolute dream. I am so thankful for our temple marriage and have already felt the blessings of it in the month we have been married. We were so blessed to be surrounded by so many of our family and friends on our special day even though it made it hard to speak to them for very long. The last thirty minutes was an awesome dance party and we had to almost literally be pushed out the door. It was a wonderful day and we are so thankful for everyone who made it so special for us. We spent that night at a bed a breakfast in Camden and had a little picnic in our beautiful room. By far the best day of my life.
The next week was a rough one. We were both impatient to be on our way to Florida but we still had school and work. After Cory’s exams were over we were finally able to leave. Cory finished with A’s and B’s by some miracle because I know he did not study nearly as much as he should have this semester, but I guess he had some good excuses. J Driving down 95 to Jacksonville in the dark is not an experience I would like to repeat. I have always been wary of big rig trucks and that is about all that drives on 95 at night. Plus there was construction going on almost the entire way so I was a huge bundle of nerves the entire time. We made it safely though and had an absolutely wonderful time. We ate so much food, but it was all delicious. Everything was decorated for Christmas and it was so magical. The weather was wonderful. We wore shorts and short sleeved shirts and even went to the water park! Cory had never been before so I had fun playing tour guide and showing him all my favorite parts. :) We are already talking about our next trip. :)
We got back from the honeymoon on Friday and my grandmother passed away the next Monday. She was in the final stages Alzheimer’s disease and so it was surely a relief for her to be free of that body. She was one of the most wonderful women I have ever known and it was definitely hard to say goodbye. She had been on a downturn since Thanksgiving and so we had expected it, but it is never easy to lose someone you love. She and my grandfather had been married for 57 years. Someone asked her once when she knew she was going to marry him and she answered “Third grade.” J She was always the last to sit down for dinner and the first to ask if there was anything you needed. Her recipes for tea cake cookies and spaghetti were famous. My brother and I even made our own commercial about her spaghetti while watching home movies when we were little. I have so many wonderful memories of her and feel so grateful to have had such a wonderful woman as my grandmother.
The thing about loss is that it tends to bring families together and that was definitely true for our family this year. It was nice to be able to spend so much time with my extended family leading up to Christmas and we really learned to rely on and help each other. Cory and I had a wonderful first Christmas together. The nice thing about getting married at this time of year is that you get to spend a lot of time together. It has kind of spoiled us. :) Our nicest present was from Mom and Dad. They are paying someone to paint almost our entire house and we are so excited and grateful! We finally have a move in date: February 6th! I can hardly wait! Right now we are living with my aunt in two little rooms. It will be so nice to be able to spread out! :)
For New Years we went up to Cory’s brother and sister in laws house to celebrate his nephew’s birthday. It was a lot of fun but crazy with all those kids! Cory and I are both looking forward to a wonderful New Year filled with many more exciting adventures! I will have some pictures of how the house is coming to post soon (fingers crossed)!

New Blog!

Now that I am a married woman, I decided to start a brand new blog about Cory and my life together. I'm going to copy over my last post from my personal blog and from here on out I will be posting on this one for the most part. I hope you enjoy a peek into the craziness that is our life! :)