Tis the Season for Visitors!

So this month has been a month full of visitors! Christopher and I have really enjoyed getting to spend this time of year with some dear friends and family of ours! We are also very excited to spend some time with more of our family over this holiday weekend. We really love our families and are so blessed to have them in our lives! Can't wait to get to spend this special time of year with them!!!

First we had Ronda, Bobbie Jo, and Allyn come visit! Us girls drove to Chattanooga to ride on the Polar Express!!! We even got to see Santa Claus!!!!

Then we had Amanda and Lucas come visit! That weekend was full of new adventures!!! We spent an ENTIRE day at the NASA Space Center...we got to see Harry Potter in IMAX and the traveling Narnia exhibit! So fun!!

We had some other friends that were going to come in this past weekend, but due to a sickness they have to reschedule! But no worries we were still pretty busy! But we still can't wait to have Jordan and Hanna come visit.

This past weekend my beautiful newly engaged Holly and her lovely fiancée Marty came into town for Christmas! It was so great getting to see Holly! I love that girl! I have also be super blessed to befriend her best friends too! Its been great be able to have friends where we live! Below is a picture of me and Holly from college!

And now the lovely newly engaged couple! Love them!

Yesterday Granddad and Nette came to visit! They got to see our place and spend the night with us on their way to Memphis. It was great to see them and get spend some time with them! Will get to see them again soon!

Christopher and I also bought a new table and chairs set last weekend!!! Early Merry Christmas to us!!! We are very excited about getting it and finally having somewhere to sit down for meals!!! Our table arrives tomorrow!!!

Super excited to spend some time with family very very soon!

We hope all of you are as blessed as we are this season!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!

6 MONTHS already????

So it's December 3rd which means that we have been married for 6 months!! There are days when I am can't believe we have been married for 6 months already and others when I feel like we have been married forever! None the less I LOVE LOVE LOVE being married to Christopher!!!

The last 6 months have been fabulous! What an amazing man I have been blessed to marry!

Here is a picture of us on the day we got married!

So a lot has gone on since the last blog update.....

1st off we had our first overnight guest at the apartment! Mr. Calvin Walker came to visit and watch the MSU v. Alabama game with us. The game was a disappointment but the company most definitely was NOT! Hopefully Calvin will come back and visit again!!!

This is a picture of Calvin and Chris after Chris' first flight.

Tonight Chris and I will have more overnight guests!!!! Ronda, Bobbie Jo, and Allyn are coming to visit and tomorrow we girls are going to Chattanooga to ride the Polar Express!!!! Chris and I are super excited about having more guest! and it helps that the guest are wonderful!

Photos from this weekend will be posted soon!!

So Thanksgiving was fantastic! We really enjoyed getting to spend time with family and be in Memphis for a while. It was our first time back in Memphis since the move. Amelia and Jason came to visit us while we are in Memphis and to go shopping on Black Friday. Since I went with them I was able to get a decent bit of my Christmas shopping done! Which is great because I like to have the presents wrapped and under the tree as soon as possible!!!

I have been super excited about getting a tree and decorating for Christmas with Chris! Probably more excited than he thought I would be. We were hoping to try to go to a Christmas tree farm and cut down our own tree, but with our weekends already blocked off for our out of town guests we decided that we would just go buy a tree from Home Depot or Lowes. Monday I spent all morning cleaning and putting away our "fall" decorations and getting out our Christmas stuff. Chris' mother gave us Nana's Christmas dishes, so I got them switched out with our current dishes and they are so cute! :) I love decorations!!! So I was ready to get the tree when Chris got home on Monday......but it was raining :( and when we went to Lowes the trees were out in the rain so they were dripping wet :(

However....(I have the bestest husband in the world) after he had helped me to see that the mess the tree would cause in the rain would not be worth it...he surprised me by going back to Home Depot and buying a tree. He had been checking out the radar and thought we had just enough time to get the tree and get it home before the next downpour. I was delighted!!! Below are some pictures of us getting our tree :)

Chris was so excited about buying our first Christmas Tree....

The Honda was ready to take on the tree!!
Chris made me hold the tree from the sun roof too because while we were out of the rain on the radar...the wind on the way back to the apartment was ridiculous! Luckily the tree stayed put! :)

Finally got the stand on the tree and brought our lovely tree inside!

Chris and I have taken the week to get the tree decorated. It has been so much fun to decorate the house and tree and everything else with him. I love that we have so much fun together doing whatever it is that we are doing!

Night 1: The lights! 1000 of them! And Candy Canes too! :)
Night 2: Star for the top of the tree

Also we got two little trees! 1- has all of our sentimental ornaments. My parents have given me an ornament every year (so I currently have 23) and Chris has gotten one for the past 4 years. We placed those ornaments on one of our little trees and placed that tree in our bedroom.

On Night 2 we also decorated part of the outside. We hung our Penguin Let It Snow sign and placed a little tree outside...Still to come are the icicle lights for around the patio!


Night 3: Ornaments on the tree....


Besides the tree we have also set out my Precious Moments Nativity....a stocking for both Chris and I as well as a little stocking for Mr. Opus. :) We also put up Christopher's Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I have put out the Christmas bath and kitchen towels and put the FLANNEL sheets on the bed!!!! Oh how fun! Next to come the icicle lights on the patio and homemade popcorn garland (maybe).....

Well that is what we have been up to during the last little bit. It has been a wonderful 6 months of growing and learning together. What a blessing marriage can be! We are looking forward to many many many more months and years together!

A Little Update

So we haven't been up to too much recently. Yesterday Chris was off work for Veterans Day and we had decided we would go to the mall and just look around. Well on our way there we saw that there was a parade getting set up. Well I LOVE parades and Chris LOVES me so after a quick run to Starbucks and Goodwill to drop off some clothes we went to the parade!

I am not sure why I like parades so much, but they just make me so happy! Chris had a great time too!
Waving our flags at the parade!

A BIG THANKS TO ALL THE VETERANS PAST AND PRESENT FOR SERVING OUR COUNTRY! YOU ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!

At the Veterans Day Parade...........................................


After the parade we stop for some lunch and then headed to the mall. After walking around the mall we decided we were pretty much exhausted so we headed back home.

For dinner we had decided to make lasagna. We had a great time doing that too! Chris helped out a lot with the layering and such. Below are some pictures of Chris working on dinner.
Layering.....and more layering.....and more layering.....


Before it goes into the oven..................Final product of our dinner :)


It was yummy!!!!! We had a great time eating and had decided we were going to watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs...

However my dear friend Cindy called. I got to talk to her for a little bit and it was nice to catch up with her again. :) Chris and I had just sent her precious little girl a (very late) birthday present. Chris helped me pick out the birthday gift. We got her a baby doll with a diaper bag, bottle, pacifier, and extra diaper. As well as a play cellphone and keys!!!! Chris' favorite part were the keys! He actually tried to use them on his own car! Turns out that is the baby's favorite part too! She loves the keys!!!!

On Wednesday I went to a painting class with my sweet new friend Katie and some of her work buddies. We were suppossed to paint this pond with koi fish. If you have ever seen ANY of my drawings (or attempted drawings) then you know that I can't draw, paint, doodle to save my life. My stick figures are pretty awful too! But I was told that this class was super easy...step by step instructions. Well I had a great time and I am looking forward to going back again....I still dont think I have an artistic bone in my body, but I had a great time! Thanks Katie!!!

Below is a picture of Opus with my koi pond.

Last weekend Christopher and I went to visit his Granddaddy and Nana's graves. It was time to update their flowers so we stopped by Michael's and then headed down to the cemetery. Below is a picture with their new flowers!!!! The scenery is really nice during the fall. All the leaves on the ground, etc.

Only for Johnnie Devine.

So we promised a good friend of ours that we would post a picture of him on our blog. However I have yet do this promised thing and was reminded today. So for Johnnie I am going to post two pictures!

By the way we sure do miss you!!! Hope you are having fun out west! Hope to see you soon!!

So MSU is ranked #21! How awesome is that! Christopher and I went to Starkville this past weekend to watch the bulldogs play University of Alabama-Birmingham and for homecoming!

We had a great time heading back to Starkville. That was our first time back in three weeks. In some ways it seemed like we had been gone forever and others not so long at all.
Above is Christopher and I after our win against UAB.

So the weekend started off quite nicely. Christopher got off work early since he was giving blood. We took advantage of his extra time off and left for Starkville in enough time to make it there before 5pm (although it was close). We were able to make it to Herbert to see a few people before they left work for the weekend. We were also there in enough time to be invited to Bobo and Sam's bday dinner at La Terraza (YUMMY). It was really great to have dinner with my old work buddies. I miss being in the office with them. Trust me you will never meet people like them and when you get the group together it is AMAZING!!

After dinner we went to Nicki's house and played things with Bobo, Bridget, Nicki, and Drew. It was a lot of fun just to hang out and relax for a bit. Then Chris and I headed over to see Dante, Eileen, and baby Cam. Cam slept the whole time we were there which was nice because we got to chit chat with Dante and Eileen and still get to see Cam too! :)

By the time we got to Amelia's Christopher was exhausted. He went to bed shortly after we got over to Amelia's and Amelia and I tried to keep ourselves awake. We made it about an hour then we both crashed too!

Saturday we went tailgating with Calvin and some of the Xipiter crew. If you were a part of team Xipiter at any time in your life and you weren't there then you missed out! Calvin makes some super yummy ribs and we had PLENTY of food! Bobo met up with me there and it was great to spend some time with her! I love that girl!! We went to the bookstore and then watched the dog walk where she "touched" Dan Mullen!!!! and several other of the players :)

I also got to see my old roomie Ronda and miss Allyn (who I havent seen in AGES). It was great to catch up with both of them and Ronda even tried to "penguin-nap" Opus....I got to keep my eye on that one :)

Speaking of Opus....Opus got him a new outfit for tailgating. We decided his red bowtie was NOT appropriate to be wearing while tailgating for MSU, so he got himself a MSU bowtie and a new bulldog shirt (he wanted to match Cam). He was looking sharp!

I also got to see my brother. Although it was a quick visit it was good to see him again! Love you Ted!!! :)

I also got to go hang out with Amelia, Dante, Eileen, and baby Cam. I love our friends! What great people they are!! :)

Sunday Chris and I headed back to Huntsville with a car load of more stuff to unpack. I finally finished unpacking all of that stuff today.

This week has been pretty good so far. Yesterday I got to practice my tornado drills and thanks to my mom I know how to take cover. Chris called several times from work to make sure I was okay and he kept asking if I wanted him to leave work to come home (he's so sweet). I had to keep telling him that the LAST thing I wanted was for him to be on the road while there were possible tornadoes flying around!!!! But for all the sirens and spottings that happened....nothing really happened around us except rain. At one time while the sirens were going off (and I was in the laundry room) the news anchor said there was a spotted tornado at 72 and Slaughter which is LITERALLY down the road from us (less than a mile). Chris called seconds later to make sure I had taken shelter, which is really funny because I get really paranoid during tornadoes (thanks mom) and I take shelter with the slightest thought of a tornado.

None the less it was really sweet that he was so worried! I love him! And he got off work and came home around 3:30 just as the rain was coming.

Well this weekend we will be heading back to Starkville for the last home game that Chris and I will be able to make it to. We are really hoping that MSU makes it to a bowl game that we can make it to. It would be great to see them in a bowl game again! :)

Well until next time!

Getting to know our new city...

So Christopher started work earlier this week. He was really excited! He looked super sharp on his first day of work! These pictures are of Chris before he left to go to work on his first day. The picture above is in front of our back door (which we use as our main door).

The picture to the left is Chris as he was finishing getting ready. I was trying to snap pictures from behind but he caught me and this is what I got. Needless to say he has WAY TO MUCH energy at 5 something in the morning!

Overall he said he had a great time at work this week and is looking forward to going back next week.

Tuesday I really wanted to make sugar cookies...however I did not have all the ingredients needed to make yummy cookies. But I had these new cookie cutters and I was anxious to use them! So Wednesday while Chris was at work I made some sugar cookie dough and after dinner (and work) on Wednesday we cut out some sugar cookies (mainly Christopher cut out cookies from the dough I rolled out).

The picture to the left is of our first batch. We have acorns, turkeys, maple leaves, oak leaves, and pumpkins! They were quite tasty! And Chris said they were really yummy in lunch on

Thursday!

This weekend we had a few plans. On Friday, Chris came home early (earlier than he had been getting home) and surprised me. We made fish tacos, and finished off the homemade mac and cheese and green bean casserole from the other night. Then we went to Decatur, AL to watch the Decatur v Hazel Green football game. My friend (I guess our friend :) Katie's husband coaches for Hazel Green so we went and met up with Katie. It was great to see Katie, since I haven't seen her since my trip to Austin to see Hajari. While Hazel Green did not win the game, Chris and I had a great time watching football and spending time with sweet Katie. :)

Saturday Chris and I went running around for a little bit. Then we came home and watched some football. While watching the Auburn v Georgia game we unpacked the guest bedroom closet (a big feat) and we were able to knock that off of our list of rooms to unpack. Saturday night we met up with some new friends Kristen and Stephen, and Esther at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Stephen finishing his thesis. After dinner we went back to Kristen and Stephen's house and finished watching the MSU v Florida game (which we WON!) and then the three of our friends introduced us to a TV show called "Campus PD". It was crazy and we laughed a lot!

Today we did some running around looking for baby Cam a CUTE halloween costume and possibly something adorable for him to wear to an upcoming wedding. We found a cute halloween costume and then decided we would go to Maple Hill Cemetery to visit Chris' maternal grandparents graves.

When we got to Maple Hill we noticed a LOT of cars. At first we thought that it was funeral, but we noticed people in very casual clothing and realized the cars parked up and down the street. When passing the entrance we noticed a sign for "Cemetery Stroll Parking". We decided to go check it out and see what was going on, before going to see Nana and Granddaddy's graves.What we found was pretty cool.

So apparently every year the Huntsville Pilgrimage Association does a Maple Hill Cemetery Stroll. They had 73 markers set up around the cemetery. Some of the markers had an individual dressed up representing the person buried or a loved one of the person buried. This individuals would give a short synopsis of "their" life and how they influenced Huntsville. This picture is just one of stroll characters represented today.

It was a great way for Chris and I to hear some of the history of our new town and to just hear some history about the area.

So this weekend was quite exciting and Chris and I had a great time! We are super excited that our beloved MSU Bulldogs are NATIONALLY RANKED!!! :)

Much love from the two of us!

Home Alone....Day 2

So today is Christopher's second day at his "big boy job", which means this is day 2 of me being here at home. Yesterday we quite productive. I got up and made regular and chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs for Chris and I also fixed him a lunch (which he didn't eat, but he took it today). I went to the gym and did a little cardio vascular exercise. I finished unpacking all the boxes in the master closet, and even got all but 3 boxes unpacked in the living room. Evan came by after he got off work yesterday and had dinner with Chris and I. I cooked fajitas. It was nice to see Evan again. Then Chris and I went and got his car washed. That was the extent of yesterday.

This morning I haven't been quite as productive. I got up and made cinnamon rolls and watched the weather channel with Chris. When Chris left for work I went back to bed. 5:30am is just TOO early to get up, just to be up. So I slept for a little while and then decided to get started on the day around 8am.I researched info on my college loan stuff (for 3 hours), and I cleaned up the kitchen, but that is about as far as I have gotten. I need to go tackle the guest bedroom/closet but that is BIG task and I just don't feel up to that right now....so I watched a little tv. Next I think I am going to get started on dinner plans. We are having salmon with homemade mac and cheese and green bean casserole. YUM :). I am also making some sugar cookies at somepoint this week, so I may go ahead and make the dough tonight. Chris got me so cute fall cookie cutters so I can't wait to use them!

Well I am off! Hope everyone is having a great day!

Huntsville Bound

We headed out early Wednesday morning for our move to Huntsville. We got in a little after lunch time and unloaded the truck. Since then we have started the unpacking process and we are starting to get settled! We have even cooked in our new kitchen! It has been great getting to actually USE our wedding gifts and get them out of the boxes!!

The Living room is pretty much unpacked. We have a few more things we want to put on the walls, but other than that we are good to go. TV/BlueRay/DVD/VCR are set up and ready to be used. And we are enjoying our DVR.

Kitchen is looking good and we got all our dishes unpacked! We have a few more boxes with kitchen items waiting to be unpacked, but then it will be completely unpacked. We have been to the grocery store and we have gotten the staple items picked up!

Laundry room is a little bare today, but tomorrow it will not be so bare!!!! We have

purchased a BRAND NEW Washer and Dryer today! So excited about it getting the washer and dryer! Can't believe we actually own one! We HAVE to buy a ironing board today or tomorrow so we can actually use our new iron!

Guest Bedroom and Bathroom are not really being touched right now. We set up the guest bed with clean sheets and the bathroom with clean towels. We also have the shower curtains hung and ready to go, but the boxes in the guest closet and bedroom havent really been touched at all. Most of those boxes are desk/school papers/office related items so I will start going through those sometime next week, once Chris goes to work.

Master Bedroom and Bathroom are looking pretty good. I am still unpacking clothes and trying to move out some boxes out of the closet, but it looks good. We have our shoes put away on the shoe rack and a good bit of clothes hung up. All the drawers are ready to go and all those clothes are put away. Just a few things to hang on the wall and then this room will be good to go until we get ready to paint.

Dining room is a work in progress. We are going to make it a dining room/office area. But for right now it is going to be holding our books. We are looking at tables, but that will be a purchase for a later date (especially since we just purchased a washer and dryer!!!).

Will try to write more soon! Off to enjoy the rest of this Saturday Afternoon! With some college football! Go State!

Goodbye Starkville.....Hello Memphis??

Well it has been a while since I updated last so here is what has been going on.....

-My (our) SUPER awesome going away lunch thrown by the Housing and ResLife ppl.

-Got to have lunch with the great people over at Student Support Services.

- MSU beat Georgia and Alcorn State in football. Go State!!!

-Had an amazing tailgate at the Alcorn State game. Amelia even submitted a photo. I will have to post it soon!

- Chris and I packed up our room in Herbert Hall and organized all of our items in Amelia's Closet (which we realized would not fit in the car on the first try...no biggie we will be back :)

-Had dinner with Ronda, Bobbie Jo, Laura, Hannah and Joe at the Grill (yum yum yum).

-Learned that the Grill had amazing berry cobler.

- Had a slumber party in Amelia's apartment (got to learn about all of Amelia's war wounds)

- Jonathan came to visit me...

- I cried a good bit when I said Goodbye to the Hill/Fairneau clan. More photos to come....

- Managed to make it to 82 before crying all over again after leaving Amelia.

- Drove to Memphis.

- Attended Amelia Matthew's 1st Bday party. (and yes Amelia and Ellie LOVED their cowbells!)

- Organized all the boxes in the Memphis Area.

- Cam turned 2 weeks old! (I can't believe it)

Later today we will be loading up the moving truck....and tomorrow we will be off to Huntsville! I will upload photos of the apt once we get there! :)

To Pack or Not To Pack

So this weekend was wonderful! I got to hang out with Amelia (which is always wonderful) and Friday night we got to go see Jason Mraz for FREE!...I got to meet two new friends and hang out with Jason and Nick too. It was super hot out and there were TONS of people, but overall we had a good time.

Christopher, Me, Jarred, Amelia, Nick, Jason, and Jessica
@ Bulldog Bash 9.24.10

Saturday we went to the MSU v. Georgia game...and we WON!! Go State! It was a great game and the weather was quite nice. Their was a cool breeze and all that jazz. Also Cam came to the tailgate in his little MSU outfit! He is so adorable! I love that I get to see him now! See picture below for cuteness. Also, see the adorable booties...Uncle Chris bought those :)

Baby Cam @ the tailgate wearing MSU Gear
(including the booties from Christopher)

Today we decided it was time to pack up some of the room. But we also need to repack the closet and bathroom in Amelia's Apt. We haven't gotten that far in packing scheme yet but it has to happen this week! We have packed up a decent bit of the "studio" apartment, but hopefully that will get finished tonight.
This week is our last week to live in Starkville....It is a bit bittersweet. We are ready to get to Huntsville and get settled, but we are sad we have to leave all our friends in Starkville too!

One more thing... So now that Ted has gotten to MSU a lot of people know him. So now I am pretty much known as "Ted's Sister" which makes NO SENSE since I was here first! But I have come to grips with that and have gotten used to being known as "Ted's Sister". But Friday I was introduced to a new concept.

Amelia and Opus out for Amelia's Bday.

While talking to Amelia she was telling me about a friend of hers (that I met later that night) who was going to be coming along with us to Bulldog Bash. Well the girl had asked who all was going to be going to Bulldog Bash and Amelia told her that her friends Melissa and Chris (us) would be coming.( Now keep in mind I have never met this girl before later that night. ) Amelia's friend replies "oh Opus' parents"....!!!!!!! I am now known as "Opus' Parent". This is a new one for me. How does someone know Opus but they do not know me or Chris??? (***For those of you who do not know who Opus is...Opus is my (melissa) stuffed animal!!***)
Anyway just wanted to share!