Holiday Time!

After two years, I'm still trying to get used to this whole two family Christmas thing.  We are constantly rushing from here to there and it is just crazy.  Crazy, but fun.  I didn't take very many pictures.  I don't know if it is because I was having too much fun or was too exhausted.  Probably a combination of both.  One thing I did notice is that the few pictures I did take were very similar to ones I have taken previous years.  Oh well... 

Because we don't stay home for Christmas, Cory and I unwrap presents on Christmas Eve morning before we begin our travel rounds.  Here is my love with one of his presents.

      

My husband is so silly! He wrote on my present "Believe it or not I have no formal training in bow making." At least he tried, right? :)

Not even born and already being visited by Santa... Lydia Jane's new giraffe hobby horse.

I take this picture of my Dad's "Christmas morning hair" every year.  It makes me laugh just as much every time!

Christmas Craftiness!

This year I have been a pretty big Scrooge.  I haven't put up a Christmas tree, nativity, stocking, anything.  I have been so focused on baby everything that I just decided I would be satisfied with my mom's decorations in Bishopville, which is where we spend Christmas eve and day, anyway.  I'm just stocking up on Christmas cheer for Lydia Jane's first Christmas next year!  That is what I tell myself to not feel so badly about it, at least.  I did put up a little Christmas flag outside and yesterday I finally finished the wreath for the front door.  Do not even mention that it is less than a week until Christmas.  I do not care.  I simply want to bask in the glory of this accomplishment.  I finished a wreath.  Hooray me!
This is the one I saw on Etsy and Pinterest.  I like it, but it is a little over the top for my taste.

This is the toned down version I made for our door.  I think next year I may add more ribbon to it, but I'm satisfied with it for this year.

At least now our visitors will get a nice warm Christmasy welcome before entering the Scrooge den! :)

Thankful

Today I'm feeling really thankful.  I sort of hesitated making the "thankful list" but I'm totally giving in.  Here are just a few of the things I'm super thankful for this holiday season.
*My husband, who, I'll be honest, has had to put up with quite a lot of crazy.  And sickness.  And extra work.  All without complaint.  I get to take naps while he does the laundry.  He has totally taken over so much and I've never been so grateful for his ability to make me laugh no matter how badly I am feeling.
*Our sweet little girl.  Even though it's started to feel like she is trying to kick her way out of there, I still love feeling her little kicks.  I love preparing for her arrival, wondering what she is going to look like and planning our future as a family.
*My family. Super supportive and awesome in so many ways.
*My friends, fellow blogging moms, everyone who has made this journey a little easier.
*My ward family, who can't keep secrets to save their lives and have been both secretly and not so secretly checking up on me since the very beginning.
*All the trials that have come from this pregnancy.  They have helped make me a mother.
*My Savior who has helped me to do so many hard things over the past few months.

Halloween Weekend 2011

Friday night we had planned to go to our wards annual "just for adults" Halloween party.  By the time I got home from work though, it was evident my body was worn out and it was just not going to happen.  By 7 pm, I was asleep on the couch.  What can I say?  You win some, you loose some. 
I woke up Saturday morning ready to hit the ground running and did.  My craft room/library now looks really good!  I have a few more little things to do in there, but otherwise it is completely organized!  Considering it was a junk room in it's former life, this is a great accomplishment. 
Saturday afternoon we had our ward Halloween carnival.  I have never been to anything like it.  Insane doesn't even come close to describing it well.  I was in charge of monitoring the bounce house and basically had to become a nazi to have any type of order.  People let their kids run wild and free which was very unfortunate for the rest of us.  I somehow survived the night, but I don't know that I want to be involved in another Halloween carnival anytime soon.  It was exhausting and afterward there was more crashing on the couch.
Cory and I had originally planned to go as kissing cousins but he had to work in the haunted house so I switched.  Not the most flattering costume ever, but it was comfy!

Me as a basketball player.  Lydia Jane as a basketball. :)

 Me and Cory in his "costume" he put on for the last 10 minutes.  Someone asked him if he was Billy Ray Cyrus! haha. 

 Jenn with a not cooperating Carson.  He was a monkey and looked super cute walking around the carnival.  I still can't get used to him walking!

This is a little too close to tell what Trevor was, but he was a banana!  It was so cute!  I wanted a picture of him and Carson together but I waited until the end to take pictures and that boy was not in the picture taking mood.

Sunday was wonderful, as I have already said.  All of our meetings were centered on missionary work and I felt the spirit so strongly all morning.  One of the talks that really hit me was by one of the members of the ward mission whose conversion story I already knew but the way he presented it was wonderful.  He talked about the friend he had who had to go to seminary and invited him to wait outside.  It was hot outside so he waited inside instead and really enjoyed the lesson.  Another boy in the class invited him to come back the next week.  And that was it.  Two simple invitations were all it took for his conversion to the gospel to begin.  He also talked about other times in his life when he was struggling with things and similar experiences happened to him.  One person issued one invitation and it had a huge impact on his life.  It really made me think about how simple it is to share the gospel with people the Lord has prepared to recieve it.  All we have to do is issue one invitation and He will take it from there.  In Sunday school, we have two great teachers.  They switch off Sundays and I just love them both.  They make the scriptures feel so relevant, which they definitely are but sometimes I think it is easy to get bogged down.  Anyway, they are fun and class is fun.  The ward mission leader spoke to the youth during our 3rd hour and I was pretty jealous of how many answers he got to his questions.  When I teach, I feel like I'm pulling teeth getting answers from these kids.  He did a great job though and the kids really liked him and seemed to pay attention which deserves some type of award in my opinion. 
On Monday we finished up Halloween weekend by passing out candy at our house for the first time.  Last year we went out with Mike, Jenn and the boys, which was way fun.  I also loved passing out candy at our house too.  Cory was super excited about it and you would have thought he just won a prize when the doorbell rang for the first time.  We had some super cute kids and they were all so polite.  I am pretty sure they all said "thank you" which is amazing these days.  We ended up having about 20 or 30, which isn't a ton but we don't have many young families in our neighborhood so I thought that was pretty good.  We still have more left over candy than I would have liked though!  I have avoided all stores the past few days.  Me and 50% off candy is definitely not a good mix!

Twenty Five!

I turned 25 last week.  I still can't decide how I feel about being that age but I can say I have loved celebrating it! 

On Tuesday, Sherry, Naomi, Grace and I went out to Yummilicous for frozen yogurt!  It was so fun to be able to chat and laugh with these girls!  They had the best music in there and Grace and I even got a little dancing in. :)

Someone was nice to enough to take a group shot of us!  Don't be fooled by Grace's face, she was having a great time.

 It really was yummy!  I had cheesecake yogurt with oreo crumbles and strawberries.  

 Sherry and Grace looking so cute!

 Grace was smiling and dancing until we got out the camera.  At least Naomi can make me laugh, right? 

 That is as close to a smile as she would give us!  

Thanks again Naomi and Sherry for a super fun night!

On Wednesday night we had a youth temple trip to do baptisms.  What better way to celebrate my birthday week than with a trip to the temple?!  All I do on these nights is hand out towels and remind the youth how they should behave in the temple, but I still really enjoy it.  Of course there are some really sweet moments too.  Most of our young men are 14 and under and I was sitting with them while they were waiting to be confirmed to keep the peace.  They had some special temple magazines on the benches and the boys were looking through them deciding which temple they wanted to be married in.  They are crazy so much of the time it was nice to see a different side to them and know that they see that in their future.  Overall, they baptized 200 people! That is like an entire ward.  Such a wonderful feeling! 

The bishop always takes them out somewhere for a little treat afterwards and this time we went to Krispy Kreme.  It was super yummy and it is fun to let them relax together after being reverent for so long, or close to it anyway. :)

 My super handsome hubby!

Our temple group!  Love them all!

On Thursday, my actual birthday, Cory, my dad and I went to Outback for dinner which was delicious. Over the weekend we celebrated Halloween, but that's a different post.  Sunday was super relaxing, just how I like.    There were some great talks and lessons at church and then my parents and littlest brother stopped by for a visit after church. Sunday night Cory and I made some delicious white chicken chili and watched The Lion King, one of my presents.  It was the perfect send off to a wonderful week!

Independence Day!

For the weekend of the Fourth, Cory and I drove down to Georgetown Friday after work to stay a few days with my grandparents before our big Thompson family Fourth of July get together.  We had a lot of fun visiting with my grandparents and Cory was great at helping Papa get things done around the river house.  I was mainly there for moral support. :)  I did learn how to "look peas" though. For those who have never lived in the country, it is pretty self explanatory: you have to look over all the peas to make sure there are no worm holes.  If there are, you have to throw them out.  I wasn't bad but from the look on Nana's face when she saw how much I had left after a couple of hours, I'm very slow.  There were still plenty for a very yummy dinner though!  

My parents had to pick up my youngest brother from EFY on Saturday but they came down on Sunday after church.  It was really good to see them and Sunday afternoon Cory, Zach, my Dad and I went downtown to take a walk on the boardwalk.  It was lot of fun.   

We ran into this guy:

 Shoot 'em! 

 My dad and Cory chillin' on the boardwalk.

 Very cool generation totem pole.

On Monday we had our annual get together.  Papa grilled out and we got to visit and play in the river.  So much fun!

 Fabulous RyRy and Ben.  I'm so happy I caught his laughing face. :)

 Kelli and her neice Ava.  She is just precious.

 Vannah is getting pretty good at the "jump and smile"

 Grace too.

 Me and Zach.  This is literally take 10.  He kept making me redo it until he looked "the best." 16 year olds...

 Joe and his baby girls.

 Me and my love. :)

How I convinced him to take this picture, the world may never know.  He hates to smile.

After our fun day at the river we came home and headed out to Sandhills to meet some friends from our ward to watch fireworks and get dinner.  When it started pouring rain an hour before they were due to start, we decided we had had enough and headed home.  I have to say I was little glad because it was SO hot and I was exhausted.  We just enjoyed the firework noises from the comfort of our own home. :)

Easter Weekend

Last weekend I went on my first trip without Cory.  He had to go on a scout campout and I decided that instead of staying home alone, watching movies and crying (I can’t help I’m usually in the mood for sad movies on those days…), I was going to visit my family.  My mom and youngest brother already had plans to go spend the weekend with my aunt and uncle in Georgetown so I just joined the party.   Cory and I were both off on Friday so we spent the morning running a few errands in the pouring rain before we both headed out around lunchtime.  I was off for a weekend of fun and beach time with my family.  He was off to hike 10 miles in the rain. I think that is the first time he has been sadder than I was at one of our partings, as he has never cared much for sad movies. :)  He and I didn’t get to talk much while we were gone because he was going into the mountains where he would have little to no signal.  This was hard for me because I am the type of person who likes to be able to get in touch and KNOW that Cory is okay.  This time I just said a prayer to ask Heavenly Father to keep him safe for me and let it go.  It is amazing how much easier giving things to the Lord makes life.  I had an absolute blast and didn’t worry about Cory a bit.  It was so nice to silly girly things with my cousins and hang out with my family.  I’ve gotten so used to being “Emily and Cory” that it was nice to be just “Emily” for a little while.  Not that I don’t love having him around, it is just different when he is.  Anyway, here are some pictures from the weekend!

 

My littlest brother and Aaron, my cousin/travel buddy

My delicious picnic lunch from Kudzu Bakery.  I had never had shrimp salad before but I love it!

The parents playing on their smart phone at the beach.  Pretty inexcusable.

My favorite beach activity.

I kept sending Cory pictures of me at the beach.  He loved it. :)

My little cousins and I made the chocolate dipped peeps while dancing around to Justin Bieber.  I have never heard his music before but I have to say, I liked it a lot more than I thought I would.

I came home to this sweet surprise from my husband.  He is the best!

So then I had to put out his.

Candy mustache=awesome.

We finished off our wonderful weekend with an even more wonderful Easter Sunday.  One of my absolute favorite people in the ward spoke and we had two baptisms after church.  It was a great way to celebrate the sacrifice our Savior made for us.

'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!

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!

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! :)

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!!!

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!

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.