2010: a year to remember

This year has definitely been a great year for us! We are so thankful for the Lord's provision in our lives. We are so thankful for all he has done in our life this year.

Here are some of our favorite moments from 2010.

Matt started a new job at Children's.

 We had a recording breaking snow storm in Dallas.

 Izzie loved the snow!!

 We went on a cruise to Cozumel with 8 of our friends.

 We spent lots of time at the lake with my family.

 We took a vacation to Hot Springs with my family.

 I started my 4th year of teaching.

We went to a Ranger's playoff game.  

Matt says this year was the greatest sports year ever. 

Our nephew Ethan celebrated his 1st birthday.

 We celebrated our 2nd anniversary.

We spent lots of time with our ABF all year and got 3rd place at our annual Fall Festival.

 We found out that we are having a baby!

 I got to see my college roomies and meet Miss Kinsley.

 We had our last family of 2 pictures made.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Matt's family.

 We got to "see" and "hear" our baby for the first time.

And we had a very Merry Christmas!!

We know 2011 is going to be a great year because we get to meet our sweet babe in June!!  We can't wait to see what else the Lord has in store for our family.

We hope this new year brings you lots of joy!!

next christmas.....

Next Christmas....

.....we are going to have a sweet 6 month old. 

I can't believe it!!!

Will it be a little girl wearing these clothes?

Or will it be a little boy wearing these clothes?

Either way, I've got a few things for our sweet babe to wear whether it is a boy or a girl!

Last week my Mom and I went to Kid to Kid (a baby/kid consignment store).  All of their Christmas stuff was 70% off.  I found so much cute stuff that I just had to get it all.  I really tried to just get gender neutral stuff, but was so much stuff that was either for a boy or a girl.  I only spent $11.50 on all 9 of these little outfits. So I felt like it was worth the splurge.

So whether we have a little boy or a little girl, I've got 'em all decked out for next Christmas!!

15 weeks

how far along?  15 weeks

how are you measuring?  15 weeks

size of baby? about an 4 inches, the size of an apple, and 2 1/2 ounces

heartbeat? 160 bpm (at our 13 week appointment)
total weight gain/loss? +1.6 pounds (I this week's weight gain was mainly Christmas food, and not the baby!)
maternity clothes? I'm starting to feel thicker in my mid-section, but no bump, so my clothes are still fitting just fine!!
stretch marks? No
sleep? I've slept great this week. No 5:30am alarms waking me up!! I'm still going to the bathroom 2-3 times a night though.
best moment this week? Spending time with Matt this week while he was off and spending time with our families for Christmas.

movement? Not yet! 

food cravings? No cravings.

gender predictions? Four more weeks until we find out!! I can't wait!!!

what i miss: I miss being active and exercising.  I've been so tired that I haven't exercised my entire pregnancy. I'm going to start next exercising after the new year.
what i'm looking forward to: Another week of no school.  Spending time with Matt.  Shopping with my Mom. 
how are you feeling? No nausea, no sickness, no tummy aches, way less gas, and a little more energy.  I'd say I'm feeling pretty good. I have been so blessed during this pregnancy!!

meal planning monday.....er.....friday

**We have been so busy this week that I just haven't had a moment to post our menu this week.  But as you can see, I haven't done much cooking this week.

Monday: Fajita Pizza

Tuesday: Dinner @ My Parent's House

Wednesday: In Houston

Thursday: In Houston

Friday Lunch: Chick-fil-A & Yogurtville

Friday Dinner: Snacky Dips & Quesadillas

Saturday Breakfast: Cinnamon Strudel Muffins

Saturday Lunch: New Year's Lunch with Family

Saturday Dinner: ?????

Sunday Lunch: Imitation Smokehouse Turkey Panini from Panera Bread (with my new Panini Maker!)

Sunday Dinner: Taco Soup

melted snowman cookies

 Aren't

these 

cookies  

too 

 cute?!!?

 I made these Melted Snowman Cookies for my nieces and nephews as a little Christmas treat!!

I got the recipe from here.

They were super easy to make, and they were pretty tasty too!! 

And of course, they were kid approved!!

Yummy!!

christmas with the link fam

We started our Christmas celebration with Matt's family with a yummy Mexican lunch.  Matt's Mom makes the best enchiladas.  I've made her recipe before, but they just aren't as good as the way she makes them.

Christmas with Matt's family is always fun because of all the kids around.  It's so fun to see them get so excited about their presents.

I just love my sweet nieces and nephews!

 It's become tradition for us the adults to play Mexican Train while the kiddos play with all of their toys. So that's just what we did.  

We always have a good time with Matt's family!

christmas day 2010

This was our last Christmas as a family of 2.  I can't wait until next year when we have a little one opening presents with us.  (Okay, maybe not opening presents.  We'll have to do that for him or her!) I'm excited to continue traditions that we have already started with our family of 2, but I'm super excited to start new traditions for our little family of 3, even if our baby doesn't understand.  

This year Matt got me the pot rack I asked for and surprised me with a wireless printer.  I can't wait to sit on the couch and print all my coupons without having to hook up my laptop to the printer!!

 Matt thought I was getting him a new watch this year, but I surprised him with surround sound for our living room!!  He was super excited about it.

 Every year I make a big breakfast for Christmas morning, but this year I toned it down a little bit because we were eating an early lunch with my parents at noon.  This year I made sausage balls and monkey bread.  Mmmmm Mmmmm!!

I forgot to take any picture for the remainder of the day.  Oops!!

We went over to my parents house for lunch to celebrate Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.  My Mom put together a delicious meal and then we all opened presents.  

After our celebration with my Dad's side of the family, we headed over to my grandma's house across the street to celebrate with my Mom's side of the family.  We opened up our presents then Nonnie prepared a Mexican fiesta.  Matt and I didn't stay to eat because we had to head to Sherman to spend time with his family.  

We ate some yummy "football food" and watched the cowboys play with his parents.  His sisters and their families are coming over tomorrow to celebrate Christmas!  

One more day of celebrations for us!!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!

Remember JESUS is the reason for the season.  

Have a blessed day with your family!!

christmas eve

It's been tradition for quite some time to do Christmas Eve with my family.  We started our Christmas celebration this year by going to their church for a Christmas Eve service.  After church we ate a very non-traditional Christmas meal of spaghetti and meatballs.  I LOVE that we don't do Thanksgiving food for Christmas.  I would much rather have something different like Spaghetti!!  After dinner it was time to open presents!!

Opening presents was so fun this year! Carson really loved opening his presents.  After he played with each present for a little while, he would say "another present?" or "more toys"!!

Carson is all about being just like his Daddy.  Ryan was reading a magazine with his feet propped up, so Carson did just the same.  It was too cute!

Since Carson loves anything his Daddy loves,  my parents got him a tool bench full of tools and my Mom made him a precious little tool belt.  

While we were opening presents, my Dad busted out his White Trash Santa hat!! We might have to get ahold of that for a White Elephant gift for next year!!

Drew and his girlfriend Marissa.

Me and Matt

Ryan, Ashley & Carson

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful Christmas!!

I can't wait until next Christmas when our little one will be able to join in on all the fun!!

14 weeks

**Hello 2nd Trimester!!

how far along?  14 weeks

how are you measuring?  14 weeks

size of baby? about an 3 1/2 inches, the size of a lemon, and 1 1/2 ounces

heartbeat? 160 bpm (at our 13 week appointment)
total weight gain/loss? -1 pound (I have a feeling my no gaining days are about over.)
maternity clothes? I'm starting to feel thicker in my mid-section, but no bump, so my clothes are still fitting just fine!!
stretch marks? No
sleep? I've been very restless this week.  I have been dreaming about all things baby. 
best moment this week? I had a few good moment this week!!  First, I got a good report from the doctor.  Everything looks great!! Second, it's Christmas break.  No school for 2 weeks!!  And last, we book our "BABYMOON"!!! I'm sooooooo excited!!

movement? Not yet!

food cravings? No cravings.
gender predictions? I still have no idea, but at our appointment this week, my doctor said we could move up our "anatomy sono" up a week.  We find out if our sweet babe is a boy or a girl on January 27th.  Five more weeks!! I can't wait!!!
what i miss: Sonic Diet Coke w/ Vanilla
what i'm looking forward to: Christmas!! I can't wait to spend time with all of our family. 
how are you feeling? My doctor had me start taking Gas-X, so my gas/tummy aches are getting a little better, but other than that, I'm feeling great!!

meal planning monday

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday: Cleanin' Out the Freezer

Wednesday: Fajita Pizza

Thursday Lunch: Free Burger @ Whataburger

Thursday Dinner: Cleanin' Out the Freezer

Friday Lunch: Cleanin' Out the Freezer

Friday Dinner: Christmas w/ My Family

Saturday Breakfast: Christmas w/ Matt: Monkey Bread & Sausage Balls

Saturday Lunch: Christmas w/ Oma & Joe

Saturday Dinner: Christmas w/ Nonnie

Sunday Lunch: Christmas w/ Matt's Family

Sunday Dinner: Christmas w/ Matt's Family

a social network christmas

We've all heard the Christmas Story a hundred times.   As a kid, it's just a story we heard over and over.  The older I get the more real it becomes.  As an adult you really start to think about what life must have been like for Joesph and Mary.

Now that Matt and I are expecting our first child, I've really began to wonder what it was like for Mary.  We were so excited to announce that we were expecting, but what was it like for Mary to tell people that she was having a baby conceived by the Holy Spirit. I'm a little scared at the thought of child birth and raising a child.  I can't even imagine how Mary must have felt about giving birth to and raising our Saviour.  

Matt found this video the other day, and when I watched it I was really touched.  It's crazy how a silly video, about what Christ's birth would have been like if there was social networking, made the Christmas Story even more real to me this year!!

Watch and see for yourself.  I think you'll love this video!!

just the two of us....

.....but not for long!!

This summer I won a free photography session with Lauren Ammerman.  I finally took advantage of our free session a few weeks ago.  It was so hard to narrow it down to a few favorites, so I just posted all my favorites!!

I can't believe that this time next year, we'll have a little 6 month old in our family pictures!!

Thank you Lauren for taking these fabulous pictures!!