Friday Favorites {Saturday Edition}

We have fully embraced the cozy and lazy attitude that January brings. I'm back in the swing of work even though we've already had a few delays and early dismissals for snow! 

Last Thursday is the day that we had an early dismissal because the other side of our county was expecting snow right in the afternoon hours that buses would be driving around. I thought the little bit of snow on our steps looked so cute and wintery ;-) 

That Friday night, we had one of my FAVORITE types of date nights, staying in, eating chili, and watching TV.

On Saturday, Andy started putting together my sewing table. It still needs a lot of work though. Look at all those boards!! I have a feeling once it is put together, our "office" room is going to be one of my FAVORITE spaces.

How can a snowy sunset not be one of your FAVORITE things about winter!?

We ended last weekend by having dinner and playing games with our FAVORITE friends. It was such a fun night!

This past week has left me totally exhausted. We had a 3 hr delay on Monday morning, but other than that, it was a full week! I'm starting to think we may get through the whole month of January with no snow days!

Last up on my list of FAVORITES is the WVYEC (aka "WV youth evangelism conference") that we returned from today. Andy works with the youth in our church so he was planning on attending this conference and I was just going to stay home. However, at the last minute, they needed a girl chaperone, so I went along too. The speaker, Drew Worsham, was phenomenal. He really challenged the students, and adults, to share Jesus. It was a great message to hear at the beginning of the year. We all need to make it a goal to share Jesus in 2017.

Happy Fri… er Saturday!! :-)

The Great Christmas Post of 2016!

We've finished up our last bit of Christmas festivities, so I wanted to recap them here!!

Christmas in Charlotte

We arrived in Charlotte late Thursday night, on the 22nd. The first order of business on Friday was to make Christmas cookies!! Andy and I didn't get a chance to make them here so we (well I ;-) was excited to do it with Anna and Faith!

Then we got to go over to Uncle Charles and Aunt Kim's house for dinner on Christmas Eve Eve :-) We had SO much fun playing the game "Rollers" after dinner too.

Christmas Eve brought the Christmas Eve service at Carmel and hanging out at Dad's house!

We had a yummy dinner, played games, and opened up gifts once Will and Leah arrived! I didn't get a picture of my "stash" on this night but I got one big gift- a sewing table!

On Christmas Day, we woke up at Mom's house and had our traditional breakfast and opened presents in our PJs.

Andy got a Yeti cooler and I got a starter kit for essential oils! I can't wait to sew and diffuse some oils :-) Then, like always, it was time to hit the road again.

Christmas in Salemburg

We arrived in Salemburg with just enough time to grab a plate and eat our delicious Christmas dinner with all of my Mom's family. After dinner, we went back to spend the night at Grandaddy's house. It was so nice to get to see him because it had been too long!!

After spending some time in Clinton on Monday, we headed back home for the week so that Andy could work.

Our 2nd Christmas

Andy and I finally got a chance to exchange our gifts on Wednesday night (the 28th). We got Japanese take-out and then opened our stockings and presents. :-)

Christmas in Craigsville

We watched Virginia Tech win their bowl game on Thursday night and then we planned to head to Andy's parents house on Friday morning. We woke up to some snow on Friday! It made for a beautiful drive, over the mountain and through the woods.

Andy's family isn't very into pictures, like mine, so I don't have as many pictures to document our weekend Ha Ha

We had their traditional pepperoni night on Friday and then we played Phase 10. Just for the record- I won! :-)

We had our Christmas morning at the Isabell's on Saturday, the 31st. Everyone's "big gift" came with a poem this year. This is also something Andy's family does often. The poems are always fun to hear.

Our big gift was a new TV!

That night was New Years Eve. After our Christmas ham dinner, we brought in 2017 with another round of Phase 10 and watched the ball drop.

On Sunday, we went to Andy's parents' church and had one last meal with them to end all of our festivities!

Shew, that was A LOT of celebrating!! We are so blessed to be able to celebrate Christmas with all of our favorite people. It takes a lot of traveling, but it's worth it to see everyone. Our 2nd Christmas is in the books!

Finally, I wanted to document the few additions to our Christmas decorations this year.

Our 2016 cards!

I was SO excited to get a nativity advent calendar like my Mom had for us growing up.

Our dining room got a little Christmas love this year.

Now, it's time to put away all the decorations and move into 2017!