Engagement Party

Several months ago my mom and sister and Jimmy's mom and sister threw an engagement party for Jimmy and I!  It was before I started the blog, but it was such a cute party and I wanted to document it here so that I would always be able to look back on it.  It was a travel themed party that had a station for some of the different places Jimmy and I have traveled together...such a great idea and so fun!

The precious invitations...I loved them!

Jimmy and I out front with the sign of all of the destinations.  When people arrived there was a game where there were pictures of us in each location and they had to guess where we were...the person with the most correct guesses won a prize!  How cute!

Bermuda!

The Chocolate Cake Lady cupcakes...if you live in Charleston you must try her chocolate cake!!!

Sushi and Chicken Skewers at the Vegas "buffet"!

Poker in Vegas!  They also had a roulette table...my favorite!

San Fran/Napa!

Napa again...

New Orleans!

NYC!

San Diego!

Blowing Rock!

Jimmy and I with our sweet hostesses!

Again...

Just the 2 of us!

Jimmy and I with two of my sisters!

They had a map of North Carolina (where we are getting married) for everyone to sign as a guestbook.

Jimmy and I with my Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat who made the trip from Alabama!

My sisters with our Mom.

Spain!  Sangria!

My Parents!

Some of my besties!

Some more of my besties!

Late night...Trouble!

 

It was such a fun party and we are so appreciative of all of the hard work everyone put into it to make it a special night for us!

 

Irmo Weekend

This past weekend we traveled to Columbia to spend a weekend with family.  We had a lot of family come in town from Texas, Alabama, and Florida.  It was such a fun weekend and we enjoyed a lot of good food, cold beverages, shopping, and spent both nights talking around the outside fireplace until the wee hours of the morning.  Hudson was definitely the star of the weekend as it was our sister Kris' and her kids first time meeting him!  And check out all of my Dad and Stepmother's Christmas trees!!!  They are gorgeous!

Dining Room Tree

Entry

Entry again.

Living Room/Kitchen

Living Room/Kitchen again.

My precious nieces from Texas and Hudson.

Cuteness Overload. 

YUM!!!  We had ham, turkey, stuffing, mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole (made by yours truly), bacon wrapped green beans, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and rolls.  I wish I had a big plate full of leftovers right now!!!

Bedroom Christmas tree in my dad and stepmother's room. 

Tree in my little sister Payton's room...love the pink lights!

Basement Christmas tree...the only real tree in the house.

My dad, Hudson, and Princess.  Princess is so funny around Hudson...she is so jealous and just wants to lick him from head to toe.  Hudson is hilarious with him as well.

Two of my little loves.

Hudson and Mommy

The whole fam...what a great weekend!

Sweet family of 3!

All of the "kids"!

And last but not least, the Goose Creek Gator tree in the basement!

 

I am excited for another weekend spent with family coming up.  My Mom will be in town this weekend and we have plans to cook another big meal, celebrate Christmas, and love on our sweet Hudson some more!

mia

SORRY for not updating for a few weeks!  It has been a busy couple ones for sure.  We have spent a lot of time with family starting with surprising my Mom for her birthday!  We were only able to make the trip to NC to see her for one night, but we had a lot of fun and she was certainly surprised and excited to see us!  She turned the big 5-0 this year so we thought it would be special.

Excuse the posture...was holding the baby funny?

Downtown Fayetteville for lunch and shopping! 

Opening presents!

Precious smiles...

Cutest little turkey I have ever seen!

Long story short...we sadly went to our last football game of the season...which was another reason for my long absence.  Unfortunately, we had a special needs kid that was on our team and was ruled ineligible by the high school league and they kicked us out of the playoffs.  We went to numerous court dates, hearings, etc. with not much luck.  We finished the season undefeated at 13-0 and were denied the opportunity to defend our state championship title from last season.  The high school league made a very poor decision and they are under much scrutiny because of it.  We hope to see many changes in the near future so that this will not happen to any other teams...because it was truly heartbreaking for everyone involved.

And I have been decorating my house for Christmas!

 

Happy Monday!

Another Busy Week!

Well...it's Thursday again...the weeks seem to be flying by lately.  Christmas will be here before we know it...never fails!  The week in review...I should probably start splitting these posts up.

Last Friday after my Dad's football game (which we won to finish the regular season undefeated!  woohoo...onto the playoffs tomorrow!) we went to see one of my best friend, Brooke's, boyfriend play at the Music Farm downtown Charleston.  He plays country music and is really good...his name is Bryson Jennings so you will have to check him out!  We had a fun group, but this is the only picture I got which was taken on Jimmy's phone.

Sunday we went to the fair for our friend Sally's birthday!!!  I love the fair and was so excited to go since it was the last day!  We did get rained on but still managed to get in some rides and a lot of good fried fair food!

Niall trying the fried snickers!  We also had fiske fries with vinegar and cheese, pizza, a sausage dog, and fried oreos...YUM!

The people watching was awesome as expected!

 

 

Last night we hosted a baby shower for our friend Kristie who is due December 29th!  She is not finding out the sex of the baby so we all wore either blue or pink depending on what we thought the baby was going to be.

These are the pink and blue cookies I made...it was my first time making the icing out of powdered sugar that gets hard.  It was fun, but I definitely need some more practice.  I also made sausage balls which are always delicious.  My Mom always made them growing up using the traditional recipe of bisquick, cheddar cheese, and sausage...however, thanks to pinterest I have discovered that adding cream cheese makes them not nearly as dry and much better!

The cute sign I made for the door..."Will it be ballerina shoes and bows or a boy to keep you on your toes?"

Our yummy spread.

Kristie and I.

Anna, Kristie, and Charlene...sporting the blue...

and Brooke, Ashley, Kristie, and I sporting the pink!

We all used to work together at a CPA firm for several years and while most of us have moved on to other opportunities I will always remember my time working with these girls as a fun one!  I love that we have all stayed close and still find time to get together at least every 1-2 months.  We can't wait to meet baby Colon!

 

And those were the highlights from the week...the low was definitely Tuesday's election.  I am glad that South Carolina got it right, but man was that a bummer!

 

 

 

Halloween

I've had a fun and busy week!  Tuesday night, my friend Jordan and I went to a happy hour downtown Charleston at the Blind Tiger for one of our friends brother who is running for Charleston County Auditor...Vote Peter Tecklenburg!  Wednesday night, I rushed home from work to make a big pot of chili and to get ready for my trick-or-treaters.  Some friends came over and we had a fun time handing out candy to the neighborhood kids...

Last night, we went to a witches party at my friend Jordans moms house.  It was so fun!  Her mom LOVES halloween and I wish I had taken more pictures of her decorations, because her house was decked out! 

On another happy note...Jimmy is coming HOME today!  Woohoo!  He works on a drilling ship in the Gulf of Mexico so he works a 3 week on - 3 week off schedule.  It's always fun for him to come home and sad when he has to leave.  But for now I will be thankful to have him home for the next 3 weeks!  Happy Friday!