Out with the Old; In with the New.

It's New Year's Eve and I couldn't be anymore excited for 2011 to begin. Josh and I are going to be so super busy this year and tons of fun, exciting, and wonderful events will be taking place. But, before we begin a new year, let's take a quick look at 2010.

January: I turned 24!!

We had a crazy snow storm where I had to walk to save my momma, then we both

trekked back to my house. Josh also had to park his car on the side of the road and

walk home, which meant walking back to his car in the morning so we could have a car

and get to work. The good thing about it, Lola got to play in the snow for the first time!

February: We had a tree fall on our house and my car. Enough said.

March: I bought my Blazer, Randy. (I don't think I ever actually introduced him, but that's his name.)

April: We found out we would not be able to move back into our old house, and began looking

for a new place to live. We also took some beautiful pictures at our church's gardens.

May: We moved into our new (and current) home.

June: My best friend, Amy, got married on the 12.

My other best friend, Rikki, married a friend of mine from High School, Austin on the 26.



July: We were super busy with work, and really didn't do anything fun. :(

August: Josh and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary.

September: Josh turned 28...AAAAND WE GOT ENGAGED!

October: We were busy, busy, with Halloween parties. Rikki and Austin's Zombie Dinner and

both our bars had parties we had to dress up for.



November: We celebrated Thanksgiving with Josh's parents.

December: This Christmas we had both of our parents at our house. It was lots of fun to be able

to have everyone together. OH, and it snowed!

Wow! I really didn't think that a lot had happened in 2010, but once I started looking back, we had a lot of good, and bad in our lives! All in all, it really was a great year, but 2011 is going to be even better! I just know it...I mean, I am getting MARRIED! Anyway, I hope 2010 was good to you all, and that 2011 brings even more happiness. Be safe, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

A Very Merry Christmas

This Christmas was a little different than other years. Usually we load up the car and head up Signal Mountain to my parents' house for Christmas festivities. However, this year, Josh and I had to work on Christmas Eve AND his parents came in town to celebrate Christmas with us. So, this year Josh and I hosted Christmas at our house. Around 11 A.M. my parents arrived and we started the day with my mom's wonderful egg casserole. Then it was time for presents. Everyone really loved their presents, I got a beautiful necklace and bracelet from Josh, he got some games for the PS3 and some tools, Mom got a really pretty jewelry set from Dad; who got a TomTom from Mom, and Josh's parents got some books and a really pretty handmade Humming Bird feeder. By the time we finally got done with the presents, Santa was very good to us all this year, it was time to bring out the snackies and start working on Christmas Dinner.

While my mom, Josh's mom, and myself were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, the boys stayed in the living room playing the Wii. For dinner we had ham, Parmesan potatoes, homemade mac and cheese, green bean casserole, holiday veggies, and the famous Landis family rolls. There was sooo much food and we are still trying to finish it all. After dinner we all relaxed on the couch and swapped Christmas traditions and favorite stories about Christmas' past. Then once we weren't so full from dinner it was time for some dessert ( shoo-fly pie and a cinnamon swirl cake with homemade butter cream icing; thanks Mom.)

We spent the rest of the night playing the game Apples to Apples, which Josh and I got from Santa. It was so wonderful to be able to spend this special holiday with both of our parents. I was really nervous about cooking such a large meal and then I was even more nervous because my parents almost couldn't make it because of the snow. And luckily they stayed the night on Christmas because of the weather. Don't need any accidents on Christmas. Everything turned out beautiful and we all truly enjoyed each other's company and being able to make precious memories. I can't wait to be able to have that quality time with everyone again. But, enough talk, here are a few of my favorite pics from the day.

All the pretty snow we woke up to.

Lola and Kitty's stockings hung up, ready for Santa.

Yay for presents!

Lola in her Christmas PJ's all snuggled up with Papaw (a.k.a. my dad)

Josh was really excited about his presents.

The dinner table all set.

The wonderful desserts that my mom brought to share.

My favorite part. As much fun as it is to get presents, it's good to remember the reason why we celebrate this wonderful holiday. It's a time to step back and think more of others than ourselves and be thankful and happy with what we have, and that's family and friends. None of this would be possible if this one small child had never been born. Everybody and everything makes an impact on the world, Merry Christmas and have a very, very, happy and blessed 2011.

A Big Chill Christmas

On Monday, I got to celebrate Christmas with my Big Chill Family. It all started the same as last year with a quick drink at Hair of the Dog and then car pooling out to Scottie's, our boss, house. There we had a spread of Bojangles fried chicken, cole slaw, green beans, biscuits, and Scottie's homemade pepperjack mac and cheese. After some lunch and joking around with each other, it was time for the present exchange. Every year Scottie and Scott, our manager, get us all something really nice for Christmas. This year Scott got all the girls bathrobes and slippers and from Scottie I got a Wii Fit. I was sooo excited about; she had heard through the grapevine that I was really really wanting one. Then the whole crew brings a present for a Dirty Santa gift exchange. Which is always a good time since you never know what you will end up walking away with and it's fun to see what everyone wants to steal .

After we packed up all of our goodies, we loaded back into the cars and headed back to Hair of the Dog to start our annual Pub Crawl. We stayed there for a couple games of pool and rounds of darts then headed over to Honest Pint, which just happened to be opening for the very first night of business. After a drink or two there it was time to head to the Big Chill to see what was going on at our most favorite spot. Then we sang a few songs at Sing it or Wing it, danced some at Raw, and by the end of night we right back at the Big Chill. It was a great time with people that make my job so much fun. We have been looking forward to this party for quite awhile. We have so much fun with each other, but hardly get to hang out all at the same time...I mean, someone's gotta be runnin' the bar right? So to be able to have one night out of the year set aside specifically to hang out with each means a lot to us and creates a great bond between the Big Chill Family. And of course there are ALWAYS great pictures to go with it.