Kiddos

I had so much fun playing with Nate & Abby Reece over Christmas...I just can't get enough of them! Abby loved her skyline chili so we thought the clothes should come off

Merry Christmas...a few days late

Here's a recap of our break thus far...
We spent our first married Christmas in Fort Mill, SC at Mike's parents house. We had time with family and friends while we were in town. Mike's parents live about 1.5 miles from The Chidesters so it was a great excuse to get out for a walk. We walked over and got to meet little Madden and see their BEAUTIFUL new house!

We also got to have family dinner/white elephant exchange/game night at the Bruce's. Terry walked away with the best gift...the holy toast mold and 2 loafs of bread. Robby also got a great gift...a bacon maker. I would say my gift was pretty sweet too...underwear in a tin. Yes, you never know when you might need a pair.

We spent the rest of the time with the Staton family and enjoying way too much yummy food! Christmas morning we had a great breakfast, opened presents and hung out with the siblings. Mike's parents were very generous and spoiled each of us. We decided to pack up and head to Clemmons on Saturday night because of the snow. It took us almost 3 hours since everyone on the highway was going 25-30mph with all the snow.

But I enjoyed waking up on my birthday to the winter wonderland outside. Mom made heart shaped pancakes, I opened more wonderful gifts and then we took O'Malley to play in the snow. That evening my mom hosted a birthday dinner party and all the West girls and their men came over. BEST BIRTHDAY GIFT EVER!!!

We had the Gibbs "Christmas morning" on the 28th and the fun continues! Nate and Abby were so cute opening presents and again we got spoiled! We've had fun hanging out with the Gibbs clan but I do miss my own bed.

We are now heading to the NC Mountains with some friends. We're excited to ring in the New Year with friends and have a low key few days.

We need to rest up because 2011 is going to be an eventful year! :)

Good Weekend

Mike & I had a wonderful and full weekend. Friday night was date night compliments of my sweet sisters! They gave us a very generous gift card to a restaurant in Knoxville. We were planning to wait and use it but just found out that after over 90+ years they are closing. It did not disappoint- the wine, food and dessert were yummy. They are known for their red velvet cake and I enjoying finding out why.
Saturday morning Mike drove to Greensboro to meet his brother and dad for the Tar Heels game. I opted to stay in TN and finish our Christmas shopping. I ended up shopping ALL.DAY.LONG!!! I was so tired by the time Mike got home at midnight.

Sunday morning we headed to Sunday School because they are doing a really good series on marriage. We met some new folks in the class and really enjoyed the lesson. After church, Mike hit the town to finish shopping for my Christmas and birthday presents. I was hard at work in the kitchen making my annual BUCKEYES! Mike bought be a double boiler so I didn't have to ghetto rig my pots like normal and it was amazing. Why did I wait all these years to get one?!?!
A few hours later we headed to our Sunday School Christmas Party. We had such a great time and met lots of new people. We ate great food (my buckeyes were the hit), played games, had an ornament exchange and walked away feeling good about this Sunday School class. We already got asked out on a "date"...so hopefully this means new friendships in 2011!My little elf is busy wrapping all of our presents while I'm packing! We are heading to NC tomorrow and won't be back here until January 2nd!

Happy Holidays and stay tuned for lots of stories :)

Snowy Sunday

We woke up this morning to a winter wonderland in Ohio...more on that trip later. After dropping Lora at the airport, we headed back to Knoxville. As we crossed the TN boarder, the snow got heavier and the traffic came to a standstill. Two hours later, we finally MOVED for the 1st time. We didn't have a lot of gas left, so we turned the car off during the 2 hours to save gas. The snow kept coming down and we weren't sure how long we would be stuck on the road. I got lots accomplished though...finished our Christmas cards, made a grocery and meal list and finished some work!

We thought the snow would stop when we pulled into Knoxville but boy were we wrong. It has picked up over the past few hours and O'Malley could not be more excited. It is supposed to continue to snow through the night and all day tomorrow...and the high is only going to be 24 degrees!! The "plan" is for me to head to Charlotte in the morning. We'll see how that works out...

West side surprise

Monday I headed to Charlotte (yet again) for a long work week. On my way into town, I made plans to stop at the Morrow's for dinner and to catch up with Mel.
Meg & Abs surprised Mel and the four of us had a great night eating dinner, playing with the kids and catching up on life. We missed you Tara!
Of course I had to take a few pictures of Maggie Lynne and Oliver...they are growing up too fast!

Maggie is proud of her double chin so don't judge

Addicted

I have never really gotten into the "Apple addiction" and don't really understand it. (I do love my ipod and don't like to run without it) My husband loves all things that start with a little "i"...imac (or maybe its not called that but just go with it), iphone, ipod, itouch and now he has fallen victim to the ipad. He ordered one the other day and has been playing on it since it's arrival. He did downloaded a Euchre app so I would be a little more accepting of the ipad.

What is it with all you Apple followers???

Mike with his other wife...

The stockings were hung...

on the buffet with care. Yes, we are ghetto and don't have a fireplace in our rental house. This seemed like the next best place to hang our stockings. You know Santa likes a good glass of wine...or at least this one does.

You are probably wondering why our stockings are so large. Well, we decided only to do stockings for each other this year. So that is one reason I opted for human size stockings...I have a lot of stuff to fit in there!!

In other news, our tree is back in an upright position and we haven't had another crashing incident!

Indoor Update

I'm sure all of my 5 readers (thanks family) have been patiently waiting for a soccer update. Here's a recap of the evening...

As I am going into the soccer complex, Em texts me and says..."please text me after the game so I know you are not in the hospital. Yes, I'm serious". Thanks for the confidence Em!!

We began warming up on the practice field, and I realize I still knew how to make contact with the ball. I ran around, took a few shots, remembered how to pass and began to relax a little.
We were about to start the game and one of our team members pulled both his quads during warm up so he was out. My friend Tony pulled his groan muscle during warm up so he decided to play goalie. Yeah, we were not starting off so hot.
I was told I had to start and was playing forward....and the panic began to set in.

Not to bore you with details of the whole game but here are a few highlights:
1) 2 players got red cards and were ejected from the game
2) I got a "firm" warning from the ref b/c I slide tackled someone...apparently not allowed during indoor soccer- oops
3) 1 player broke his wrist
4) a fight broke out on the field
5) I fell and bruised my tailbone

Needless to say, this was NOT a "non competitive" league. We ended up losing in the last 3 minutes of the game so it was a bummer.
I flew in Friday afternoon and knew I needed to get my tailbone figured out. The doc determined it was not broken and only badly bruised. The remedy-carry around a blow up donut to sit on. Yeah, no thanks....I will deal with the pain.

I am traveling for work this week, so sadly I will miss our Tuesday night game. But I can't wait to see what injuries occur when I'm back in 2 weeks.

What was I thinking...

...that is exactly what I have been saying to myself ALL DAY LONG! Well, we got talked into signing up for a coed indoor soccer league, and we thought it would a great way to meet new people and get a little exercise. We were told it was the "B" league (aka-beer league), 30+ year olds and most were beginners that were just out there to have a good time. WRONG!! Our first game was last week and we got killed! From what I have heard, the other team came straight from the US men's Olympic soccer team and were out for blood. One of our players, tore his MCL and ACL and is out for the season. I know most of you are picturing an old gym where we used to all play indoor soccer. No, this is a fancy complex with 2 or 3 turf fields so clearly these people are serious.

We have our 2nd game tonight at 10:15pm. I will probably wear my pj's to the game since it will be past my bedtime. My husband is traveling for work, so I be representing the family name...not lookin so good for us. Let's hope I can walk tomorrow since I'm supposed to catch a flight in the morning.

On a positive note-My friend, Jenny, is coming to support her husband and will be bringing the team capri suns and orange slices. That might be the highlight of my entire night!

Here goes nothing...

Nice while it lasted

Since we live in TN now, I figured there would be numerous Christmas tree farms around. After Mike did a little research, we found out that most of the farms around here don't grow fraser firs-boo! As much as we have been traveling lately, the last thing I wanted to do was hop in the car and drive for hours to a fraser fir farm.
We decided to head down the road to a Christmas tree lot and pick out a tree that was just chopped down. We got a killer deal on a 10 foot tree (they marked the price wrong and I haggled with the old man to get a better deal...shameful, I know!)

Keeping with tradition, we ate chili for dinner and watched the Elf while decorating the tree. Poor Mike had to listen to me tell the same stories about each ornament as I pulled them out. I just love the history and stories that are represented with each of my ornaments. Earlier in the day, we went to Hallmark to pick out the Keepsake ornament series we are going to start collecting! The tree looked beautiful and I loved decorating it with my husband.
Well, we spoke too soon about the beautiful tree...
We were jolted awake at 4am Monday morning by the sound of a crashing tree. We ran out to the living room and I see that the tree narrowly missed O'Malley. He was still laying on his dog bed and was not too thrilled to be sharing it with the Christmas tree. Thankfully O'Malley and all the ornaments survived the fall. Let's hope the tree remains standing for the rest of the holiday season!

Stuffed

I am still full from all we ate and drank over the holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving at our house...really, I loved it! It makes me even more ready to purchase a house so we can accommodate everyone for more holidays. My sister, Em, already did a great job blogging about "Fatfest 2010" so I will let you read her blog!
Here are just a few more pictures since we took so many as usual!

When dad's away

The hubs is on business travel right now so its just me and O'Malley holding down the house. When Mike's gone, I give in and let O'Malley sleep in our bed. I put his sheet on the bed and he snuggles up on Mike's side of the bed.

How can I resist this cute snuggle partner?!?!

Tailgating with the Parents

We hit the road again this past weekend and headed to Winston. O'Malley had been at "camp Nanny and Poppy" so we needed to pick him up. Mike was also supposed to go to the Carolina football game but those tickets fell through as we were heading home. Poor guy- he was so bummed. But at least he got to come with us!

My parents (or maybe just dad) are big Wake fans and have bought season tickets for football and basketball since we were little kids. I haven't been to a Wake game in over 10 years but thought it would be fun to go with my parents. My parents and their friends know how to tailgate! Mike & dad dominated in cornhole, the food was delish, enjoyed all the beer dad packed, got to know some Knoxville lovers and even surprised dad with a birthday cake!!

Mike & I had a great day with my parents and their friends-thanks for letting us hang!

TN Thanksgiving

In just TWO days, my whole family will arrive in Knoxville for Thanksgiving!! Keeping with tradition, the family is running a 5k race the morning of Thanksgiving.The weather is not looking so "hot" for the race, but a warm krispy kreme donut will make any race better. Yes, it's tradition for us to get one after the race.
It's probably a good thing we are doing the race b/c there will be SO MUCH GOOD FOOD for Thanksgiving. We have been emailing, texting and planning this holiday for months now. (surprise surprise)

We also get to celebrate Dad and Em's birthdays while we are all together. Today is Dad's birthday...HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPPY-we LOVE you and your crazy self!!!

I'm excited for my family to see Knoxville, our "retirement community", and make crazy memories as usual.

In the mean time, I will be grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning.
Can't wait for Wednesday morning!!!!

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving with friends and family

Next Stage

I am currently on a business trip with the hubs and have a little extra time on my hands. What better use of time then to update the blog!

When this blog started in 2008, my prayer was to try to "live in the moment" daily. I haven't given up on this prayer but it has really turned into a life goal. Because of my crazy personality, I tend to forget to live in the moment and always plan ahead. I am still and will always be a crazy planner, but a lot of other things have changed since 2008...fell in love, became a wife and moved to a new state. Those seems like great reasons to create a new title. I also wanted to make it "our" blog because Mike says he might want to write a post or two.

"Our Tennessee Adventure" seemed like an appropriate title for this stage in our life. We have been married for a little under 3 months and are still learning about our new city and each other. I have no doubt there will be many more stories as we continue to navigate through our new life together in TN!!

XOXOXO

We had such a great weekend with so many of our friends. We headed to Charlotte on Thursday morning and went straight to the mall! Since we are hosting Thanksgiving with the Gibbs clan in Knoxville, we needed to make sure we completed our registry. I thought my family would enjoy having silverware, plates and the ever important wine glasses! Crate & Barrel was very excited to take our money.
Thursday night was spent celebrating Caroline's upcoming wedding! We had a great dinner at AB's and enjoyed hearing all the wedding planning stories.

Friday we headed to Boone with the St. Louis' and Early's. We woke up early Saturday, got a tailgate spot, went back to the house to get ready, then spent the rest of the day in Boone! Our sweet friend, Ellen, turned 30 on Sunday so we had to celebrate!! We had lots of fun catching up with friends, LAUGHING, eating, drinking, cornhole and of course spending money at the bookstore.

We had a really fun weekend with friends and it was sad to pack up and leave Sunday morning. But I will say, being SOCON Champions was a great way to end the weekend!

My Happy Place

This is my happy place and I can't wait to head up there in a few hours!

The Mountains, The Rock and tailgating with 18+ of my friends=one happy girl!! Let the FUN begin...

Tailgating with Kat is always delicious

Yes, we are ALL this excited for the big game