Counting Down To Christmas

This year Kyle and I started a new tradition by participating in Advent. Bringing back the TRUE meaning of Christmas has been heavy on my heart this season. It is so easy to get caught up in the hussle and bussle of Christmas that we spend no time reflecting on the greatest gift of all... JESUS. Kyle and I love this time of the year and truly enjoy all the traditions including, Santa, listening to Christmas music, looking at lights, drinking warm drinks, watching movies, shopping, baking BUT we keep our main focus on the one true meaning of the most wonderful time of the year. :)

I made a simple calendar out of Christmas scrapbook paper, printed out some numbers, put magnets on the back, thought of activities to do each night, and put scripture verses to read on the back. Luckily I had everything on hand so no purchases were needed. Every night before bed Kyle and I read the scriptures and pray together, it has been super fun reading the Word as a couple, so much so that we are going to keep this going even after Christmas!


Some of the activities we do are: Go Christmas shopping together, drink hot cocoa and stir with a candy cane, look at the 109 lights, sing and dance to Christmas songs around the tree, go see Reindeer, make neighbor gifts, and many more!





The scriptures that we read everyday are all things that Jesus is and that He has done. They may be passages that we have read before, but it reminds us how great of a God we serve! As Kyle and I prepare our hearts for Christmas I encourage you to do the same... it's never to late! :)

Deck The Halls

Kyle and I have made getting a real tree the day we come back from Gatlinburg a tradition. Since we enjoy Gatlinburg so much this is something we can look forward to when we come home. Last year we wanted to cut down our own tree at a local tree farm, but by the time we made it back it was already dark so we had to buy a pre-cut tree. This year we were excited because we knew we would be back in time to cut our tree down, well like last year it did not work out. The tree farm is only open on the weekends, not on the week days. We made a visit to Rainey's Tree Lot right across from where we live. Kyle went to school with the people that run it and also have taken their pictures so it worked out perfectly.

This year we got a 9ft tree, something that Kyle has been wishing for.. he loves this time of the year! Kyle brought in our tree, then we cut the netting off and let the it get used to the temperature of the house. While waiting we ordered some Jets pizza... YUM! After the tree adjusted we started decorating while listening to some Christmas tunes. We had so much fun laughing and reminiscing about some of our ornaments that we pick up when traveling to new places. There is something about a tree that makes a home so cozy and comfy... we are loving it! :)



He is super EXCITED!

Maple and I giving the tree some water.

Kyle puting on the lights.

Giving smootches. :)

Maple putting on her ornament. ;)

This picture totally cracked us up after we looked at it....

Kyle and Maple


A FUN evening indeed!

Gatlinburg!

Going to Gatlinburg over the Thanksgiving Holiday is something that we look forward to all year! Kyle and his family have been making the trip for as long as he can remember and I am so glad that I get to be apart of such a fun tradition!
We arrived at our condo on Thanksgiving night, just in time for another yummy meal... all that driving made us hungry again! Some of my favorite things to do while we are in Gatlinburg are to SHOP, imagine that, walk the strip downtown, the VILLAGE, and relaxing! Good thing for me that's exactly what we did! :)

Kyle and Cole playing with the Ipad


Walking the streets of Gatlinburg!


Our cozy fire... love it!


Everyones first time on top of the Space Needle, such a pretty view!


Hot Cocoa and a Donut in the Village!


The Gingerbread Train... so cute!


My first bear sighting!


Mark and Connie! Thank You for such wonderful trip!




On our last day we headed to the Pancake Pantry for a delicious breakfast here is Cole's yummy pancakes!

Thanksgiving

This year Kyle and I celebrated Thanksgiving Day at my dads parents house. We had a wonderful time all catching up while eating a WONDERFUL meal! After talking for hours a group of people went to take a walk, some went down to the barn, and we decided to go ahead and leave. We made a quick trip by my parents to visit my grandmother and 2 cousins then hit the road towards Gatlinburg!

Dad cutting the Turkey!

MawMaw preparing everything so we can dig in!

talking away..

The whole gang!

My Granny... we love her!

November Blessings

A Psalm of Thanksgiving....

Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to
each generation.
Psalm 100:3-5

Every day in November I wanted to record a blessing or something I was thankful for even if it was small. I usually reflect over each month and write down what our blessings are so doing it every day was fun!

1. The mind of innocent children and the sweet things they say.
2. Getting off early as a surprise and getting extra time in the day that I wasn't expecting!
3. A video that put things in perspective... don't sweat the small stuff Laura.
4. QUIET TIME.
5. Time with my mom and sister!
6. 1 hour extra to sleep.
7. Yoga... it was so relaxing!
8. The smell of a yummy dinner.
9. Hair color! :)
10. Spending time in the Word as a couple.
11. Sweet Family Time.
12. Thankful for my health and that I am not handicap.
13. An uplifting message.
14. Baskin Robins... it's just a short drive away for those late night cravings!
15. The smell of wet leaves.
16. Seeing Cole open his birthday gift.
17. A CLEAN house!
18. Safe travels
19. Thankful that Kyle is able to do what he loves... photography!
20. A Cracker Barrel breakfast.
21. Rainy Days
22. Pajama Day with the girls!
23. My sister coming over to help with the kiddos!
24. FAMILY! and all the yummy food! :)
25. Great deals and shopping!
26. sleeping in...
27. I got to see a BEAR!!
28. A real Christmas Tree and a husband that LOVES to help decorate!
29. Zaxbys... you always come to the rescue when I do not have dinner planned!
30. Grocery shopping, so thankful our cupboards are FULL!

Kyle and I have been blessed beyond measure, but not because of us or anything we deserve... we give God all the glory! I am thankful for all of these small everyday things, but most of all I am thankful for a Savior that saved me! VERY VERY BLESSED!

Pajama Day

Yesterday Aleah and I declared it pajama day, it has not only been fun for her, but for me too! Our morning started out by eating breakfast, then we got busy baking away! We made homemade s'more cookies, let me just say they were the best cookies I have had in a very long time! I made us both a cup of hot cocoa to sip on while eating our cookies. Reese woke up right when we finished, how is that for perfect timing!? Some other things we enjoyed yesterday were, watching a princess sing-a-long, learning about the first Thanksgiving, making puppet pilgrims, reading books, and calendar time. I am so glad that we decided to have pajama day, I am thinking we should do this once a month! :)

Stirring all the ingredients together.


Right before we popped them in the oven.


The finished product... Yum Yum!


Drinking her warm cocoa and eating her cookies... she loved it!


Coloring her Pilgrims


Aleah and her Pilgrim puppets


Little Reese in her cookie PJ's

Christopher Place

A photo of the back of Christopher Place.


This weekend Kyle and I traveled to Newport, Tn for our last wedding of the year. We love going to Christopher Place, it is a wonderful location to have a intimate wedding or to go and relax, we even thought about having our wedding here, but decided to stay local. As I have mentioned before in previous posts, Kyle and I have our own room off of the main house so that we are able to have privacy away from the wedding party. This time we were able to put to use the fire place in our room and kept it burning all night. It was so nice listening to the fire crackling while falling asleep. As always we enjoy our time here at this beautiful resort and hope to book more weddings here this coming year! :)

Our yummy breakfast!


Getting ready to begin the ceremony, I was asked to video for the bride.


After the wedding we all went to a farm, this is the view of the creek from the cabin.


All of the guests were able to take horse and a carriage ride. While the guests were waiting they could go inside the cabin to snack on cheese and crackers and get their caricature drawn.


The bride and groom had a hummer limo pick up all the guest, we had to get a picture with it.


The fire we had going in our room on the last night.

Our Little Winner!

Maple, our fur child, won her very first competition thanks to her Dads good networking skills! :) What started out as something fun turned to competitive real quick, Kyle wanted her to win really really bad! Thankfully all his hard work paid off and Maple was rewarded with this super cute shirt from Patty House, owner of StarBurst Doggie Designs. You can look her up on Facebook, she has some really cute things! :)

Maple with a mouth full of food!

Sportin' her pink shirt with her name in rhinestones!

A Sneak Peak...

Here is a little sneak peak into my everyday with two of the cutest little girls! I must say that I really enjoy my job, there is nothing like investing my time into these precious lives! With Thanksgiving right around the corner we have been talking and working on activities that remind us of how blessed we are. Last week we made a cute thankful turkey, this really made saying what we are thankful for fun!

Coloring the leaves Fall colors.

Gluing on our thankful leaves... can you tell Aleah had a blue ringpop?!

Reese and the turkey!

The finished product! She came up with all of the things she was thankful for by herself... so cute!