2009: a year to remember

2009 seems like it has flown by. Lots of great memories were made and we are looking forward to a great year in 2010!!

Here are some of the highlights of 2009.

Brittany, the maid of honor in my wedding, got married!

I got a new DSLR camera which has totally changed my life and the quality of my photos.

Matt and I spent a lot of time on the lake.

We went on a family vacation to Lake Greeson.

Carson celebrated his 1st birthday.

We got granite countertops in our kitchen.

I worked on decorating our house and even made myself a little home office.

Drew graduated from TSTC in Waco.

Our 4th nephew, Ethan, was born.

We celebrated our 1st anniversary with a weekend getaway to San Antonio.

Our ABF won our church's Fall Festival. We had the best game and costumes!! Sarah, one if the girls I teach with, got married! Matt and I got to visit Cowboys Stadium for a Baylor football game. I designed my first Christmas card.

And we had a very Merry Christmas.

I hope 2009 was a great year for you and your family as well.

so you're saying there's a chance....

My attempts to get my data off my hard drive failed.

We took it back to the Apple Store and the guy there told us that he could no longer see my data and that my MacBook had officially crashed. He said my only option was to visit TaylorMark (a place that does data recovery on Macs).

We drove home yesterday and I was literally in tears thinking of all the things I might lose on my computer. I was completely devasted hearing that my hard drive was completely crashed.

We dropped my computer off at TaylorMark this morning and they told me there was an 85% chance that my data could be recovered. They called me this evening and said that step 1 of 4 went well and they were cautiously hopeful they would be able to retrieve all my data.

failing hard drive

Last night I tried to turn on my computer and all I got was a blank screen. I could not get it to turn on. I made an appointment with the Apple Store today and they had bad news for me......

My hard drive is failing and needs to be replaced.

Unfortunately I have nothing backed up on my computer. They guy at the Apple Store said there is a possibility that I can get all my data moved to an external hard drive. I bought an external hard drive today and I'll be working on doing that tomorrow. I really hope I can recover all my data. I would be sad to lose my music and documents, but I would be devastated to lose all my pictures. I'm really hoping I can at least recover my pictures tomorrow.

Moral to this story: Back up all your data on your computer right now.

meal planning monday

Matt and I are both off work this week, so I have lots of meals to cook!!

Monday Breakfast: Bagels

Monday Lunch: Out

Monday Dinner: Barbecue Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, & Ceasar Salad

Tuesday Breakfast: Bagels

Tuesday Lunch: Matinee Showing of Blindside (Popcorn)

Tuesday Dinner: Leftovers

Wednesday Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls

Wednesday Lunch: Tin Star

Wednesday Dinner: Cashew Chicken & Eggrolls

Thursday Breakfast: Pigs in a Blanket

Thursday Lunch: Northpark Food Court

Thursday Dinner: Lasagna Roll-Ups

Friday Breakfast: French Toast

Friday Lunch: New Year's Lunch w/ my Family

Friday Dinner: Barbecue Cupcakes

Saturday Breakfast: Pop-Tarts

Saturday Lunch: PW's Cowboy Calzones

Saturday Dinner: Chuy's

Sunday Lunch: Chicken in Honey Sauce, Rice, & Broccoli

Sunday Dinner: Nachos

a very merry christmas

We celebrated Christmas with Matt's family on Christmas Day!!

This was our nephew, Ethan's first Christmas. He is just so precious!!

We stuffed ourselves full with a delicious lunch made by Matt's Mom, then started opening gifts. It's so fun watching all the kids open their gifts. I might be a little bias, but I think we have the cutest nieces and nephews ever!!

Ellie showing off her new DSI case.

Emma opening up some snuggly pink pajamas.

Peyton trying out his new marshmallow gun.

Preston modeling his new super hero cape. He was so cute modeling his new super hero cape that he gets his own post!!

And Ethan just being cute!!

After we opened gifts we all snuggled up and watched Elf with the kiddos.

We finished the night with a Link Family Tradition.....Mexican Train. We played the entire 13 round, and guess who won!! ME!!! We didn't leave Matt's parent's house until midnight. It was a late night, but we sure did have a great time with our family!!

We love you and thank you so much for the wonderful gifts!!

super P

Meet Super P

He's brave.

He's strong.

He's courageous.

He's fearless

And he's powerful.

But at the end of the day he just a kid who likes to play his brother's DSI!!

We gave Preston this cape for Christmas. I was so happy to see that he absolutely loved it. He turned into a different little kid when he put this cape and mask on. It was precious!!

christmas morning

Last year when Matt and I celebrated our first Christmas we told our parents we would get together with them anytime but Christmas morning. We wanted to always reserve Christmas morning for our family Christmas. Since we don't have any children right now, it doesn't really matter, but I love that we have already started some Christmas morning traditions that we will start with our children someday. Santa Claus will never have to find us on Christmas Eve, because we will always be at our house.

We started Christmas morning by sleeping late. Matt's sister said they were up at 5:20 opening gifts. I'm so glad we weren't up that early!!

Izzie was very anxious to open up her stocking. She heard something that sounded like treats!!

She was right. She had some treats, a new collar and a flower for her collar, and a new bed in her stocking. We also opened up our stocking and Izzie got to test out her new bed.

It didn't take her long to snuggle up in it!!

Matt totally spoiled me with all my wonderful gifts. He's a great shopper!!

I surprised Matt with a guitar this year. He has been begging for one for quite some time now. He has always wanted to play the guitar. I didn't get a picture of him with his guitar, but hopefully I'll get some pictures of him while he's learning to play!!

Christmas breakfast is one of my favorite traditions. This year I made an Egg Casserole, Monkey Bread, Sausage Rolls, & Mimosas.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning with each other. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas morning with your family, too!!

merry christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!!

only in texas

Only in Texas can it be 70 degrees one day and 32 degrees and snowing the next.

I can't complain though. We got a White Christmas Eve!!

Here's what my parents patio looked like after all the snow this evening.

christmas eve

Tonight we celebrated Christmas at my parent's house. We went to the Christmas Eve Service then came back home for a snack supper and gifts.

I always love my Mom's Christmas tree. She does such a good job decorating for Christmas. Most of my Christmas decorations are just copied from my Mom.

It's so fun to have a little one around at Christmas. We all could just sit around and watch Carson. Carson loves to play with anything that has wheels, cell phones, house phones, & remotes! He's likes real things!!

We gave him a puzzle with his name on it and he seemed pretty interested in it, until....

....my Dad rolled in a custom painted low-rider wagon. I'm not sure who liked it more Carson or his Daddy.

He was so happy just sitting in it! He loved it.

Dad's big surprise was an album that my Mom made on Snapfish of all of his cars through the years. Dad is always so hard to buy for, so it was fun for him to get a gift that totally surprised him.

After supper and gifts, this little dude got in the softest PJ's ever and headed home to wait for Santa to come.

We all stuck around for a while and played some Mexican Train with my Uncle and cousins.

I absolutely love spending time with my family and Matt's family for Christmas, but the thing I look forward to the most is the sweet time Matt and I get to spend together Christmas morning. I love starting and making new traditions for our family.

Tomorrow is Christmas!!