Sunday, December 30, 2012

Reflections of 2012...Renew in 2013!

Can you believe 2012 is coming to an end? As they always say, all good things must come to an end. That's very true! Of course, there were hard times for so many people, in the world and in our nation. But as I was reflecting about the year 2012, for Russell and I, it was a year full of blessings. Every year, I like to share one highlight of each month. Some months were slow paced, but most were stocked full of activities and most of all memories. I only share one picture for each month though, so here we go!
January 
Russell and I visited Crystal Bridges museum together for the first time. We love living in NWA! It was beautiful.
 
February
Friends helped me surprise Russell with a birthday party! We had pizza, cake, and best of all, friends! :) He was so surprised. It was too much fun.
 
March
 As Spring arrived, so did our desire to go walking together! We loved seeing the beauty of God's creation while we walked.
 
April
 We traveled to Bartlesville, OK to meet The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond! It was amazing and oh so much fun!
 
May
We moved back in our house we own! Blessings abound!
 
 June
 My family came to see us. Also, Russell's whole Price side of the family came to NWA. We had a great family reunion together.
 
July
 As we endured the heat, we still enjoyed going to the farmer's market on the square. Mandy and I were so glad to be there while Kris Allen sang! It was great.
 
August
 We visited the Precious Moments park. It is one of our favorite places to go. So sweet.
 
September
 Our 5 year wedding anniversary!
We celebrated at The Melting Pot. It is SO good!
 
October
 I went with one of my friends to see Point of Grace in concert. They are so talented and one of my favorite music groups.
 
November
 We saw Carrie Underwood in concert!!!! It was officially the BEST concert EVER!
 
December
We had many wonderful times with family and friends. We also had a great time hosting our Sunday school Christmas party. Such fun!
 
So, here's to 2012 being filled with memories, and mostly, here's to a blessed 2013 for all of you!
Reflect on special moments and memories, and let God refine you in the NEW year!
Happy New Year 2013!
 
He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. Malachi 3:3

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Wonderful Christmastime

Wow! Christmas has come and gone in a flash!
Let me start out by saying, I have missed blogging. Life happens and you get busy, right? Of course that's what happens! Also, a warning: There are MANY pictures on this post. More than normal, just so y'all know. I could have done two different posts, but I wanted to do a 2012 recap in a day or two, so here we go!
Our house smelled just like a bakery a few days before we left for the South Arkansas Christmas trip. Russell and I made cinnamon rolls together. What fun it was! I mixed up all the ingredients, rolled out the homemade dough, and Russell helped me so much with the slicing and organizing, finishing it off, etc.
 Pioneer Woman is the best for sharing this glorious recipe. It truly is a labor of love, but SO worth it!
 In the middle of the process. This is noncaloric, just so you know. Ha!
It was nice to make ahead of time, then freeze them.
 Oh, let me interrupt this blog post to show you my Christmas nails! Not perfect, but I love this color!
Friday, we traveled to Jackie and Ricky's (Russell's parents), and spent time together. The interesting thing about the visit is there was not any electricity!
 Ricky did use a generator, which was enough power for a few things. Plus Jackie pulled off a great meal! We had apple butter pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, and macaroni and cheese! I told her that we should have ordered pizza! :) But it was SO good!
 Ricky and Jackie at dinner
 Look! The Christmas tree was lit, even without electricity! Thankful for generators!
 Russell was enjoying the "semi old-fashioned Christmas". So funny!
We stayed at my Mama's and BA's this year. Later that night we traveled to C-town!
 I had quite a few gifts to wrap. Mama is the queen of wrapping gifts, so I put her to work! I was her assistant, but didn't help much! I tried!
 I loved this pretty vintage wrapping paper.
 
Saturday, I got to meet up with a sweet and special friend of mine, Brittany.
 We went to high school and college together. I remember when we both started dating our husbands around the same time and telling each other about our dating stories! HA! Brittany is so sweet. I was so glad her sweet boy, Braden joined us, too!
 
Russell and I later ran to Walmart for a few last minute things, then he had a very special VIP request to go to Andy's. They serve egg nog shakes around the holiday time.
 He was very excited!
 We put together a few cinnamon rolls and delivered them. I loved this year's material with a big red bow and ornament.
Sunday night, we went back to Mag-town to have Christmas with Russell's extended family.
 Connie and George are so sweet. They are so happy about their new granddaughter, Eve! She was born right after Thanksgiving.
 Me and my love
 Phyllis and me
Now, Phyllis and I love to laugh. Everyone knows we like to have fun and just laugh together. It's quite hilarious!
 Jackie and Ricky with Belle and RJ
 Belle says "Merry Christmas! Woof!"
 Todd is Russell's best friend. It was so good to see him and catch up with him.
 
Christmas Eve
 Mama and I in front of the tree
 Russell and I went to FBC's candlelight service. It was so pretty.
 BA and Mama
 I am so glad I saw sweet Emily at church! She is one of the sweetest people ever!
 I loved making the breakfast casserole for us to have on Christmas day! I like that you can make it the night before. Easy!
 Russell helped me too and also made his fave-sausage balls! They were so good.
 
Christmas Morning
 Cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole, anyone? I say this is a perfect breakfast!
 
Kelly, Eric, Logan and Lauren came that afternoon.
 Lauren with her gift. We got her a monogrammed blanket.
 Kelly with her gift! We got her a door mat.
 Eric loves Reese's cups. LOVES them. We gave him the world's largest Reese's cups. Ha!
 Lauren is so pretty!
 And Logan is handsome! We had steak for Christmas dinner. Yum! BA did a great job grilling them.
 Mama and Russell
 Lauren got tons of duct tape for Christmas. She made me the coolest purse! I love it!
 Kelly's sugar cookies. She should go in business. Heaven. Just heaven.
 Me with my Santa Baby!
 Mama, me and Kelly
 We were SO excited to see snow! Logan even made a snowball soon after the snow started coming!We were all so excited and giddy, we just danced around in it! HA!
 But it was quite cold, so Lauren and I snuggled under her blanket. Yes, we are silly. Oh well!
 Sisters in the snow! I love her!
Logan is a Lego Master! Lego King! He is so talented at building Legos! He made put this 1962 Volkswagen Van in 2 days! It was fun to watch him put it together.
 
It was fun filled and busy, but so good seeing family we cherish and love.
 
You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest... Isaiah 9:3