Christmas Came and Christmas Went

Christmas is officially over. In a short period of 24 hours, Christmas came and Christmas went. It's hard to believe that we spend so much time preparing for this one day, and when it finally comes, it's over faster that we can blink!!! It will do the same thing in the years to come, but we will still do our hustling and bustling right up to the very last minute leading up to it. It still doesn't make it any less fun or meaningful, no matter how short it is!!

Our Christmas was short, but very fun and rewarding at the same time. My week started off with an ingrown toenail that hurt too badly to ignore, so I found a doctor on Tuesday who could see me right away. The numbing shots hurt extremely bad, but the procedure was over pretty quickly. By the time I came home from work that day, my toe hurt sooooooo badly! I couldn't believe how badly it throbbed and even the pain medicine they gave me did not do a thing!! Needless to say, I did not get any sleep that night due to the throbbing and burning in my toe!! We only had to work half a day on Christmas Eve, and I was so happy that I could get a short nap in before we had to go to my in-laws for dinner and present opening with them and my husband's grandparents. We got some awesome gifts and had an amazing dinner. After we left, my husband and I got home and exchanged our stockings. I was sooooo excited when I pulled out my Nintendo DS and four games to go along with it!!! This Christmas I decided to ask for things that I needed, rather than things that I wanted. My husband knew that I wanted a Nintendo DS, but I really needed clothes for work. So I spent my Christmas money on the things I needed, and so my hubby rewarded me with something that I wanted, which was the Nintendo DS!! I was super excited about it, and have picked out so many more games that I want! After we opened our stockings I had to soak my toe in Epsom salts and it seemed like the pain was finally starting to let up. Thankfully, that was the end of the pain and I got a great night's sleep!!!

Christmas morning we went to my in-laws again for breakfast, and then we headed to Decatur to spend the day with my family. We had an awesome visit and ate so much good food!! The day went by way too fast because the next thing we knew, it was time to head back home. We ate some leftovers last night and I played with the DS for a little while until I had to get to bed. Unfortunately I had to come to work this morning, but I am already looking forward to getting home to play :)

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas, and hopefully Santa was good to you all!!!

'Tis the Season

Can you believe that Christmas is almost here already? Do you feel like each year of your life seems to go by faster than the last? I was thinking back to this time last year and what I was doing. Almost exactly a year ago, I was having my second knee surgery, travelling to Atlanta for a work class and then all of a sudden it was Christmas. It just seems so hard to believe that it really was an entire year ago because it seems like just yesterday!!! So much has happened in my life this year - good and bad. It will definitely be a year that I will never forget.

Well, Alabama didn't quite make it to the Championship game, but we almost did! The SEC championship was a great game and although we didn't pull out the win, we had a great time there and did not have any issues with the Florida fans!! I've heard some stories where Bama fans had some unfortunate run-ins with the Florida fans, but luckily that didn't happen to us. It was a long day trip but we had a good time. I'm so proud of our team and what they have accomplished this year. I don't think anyone thought that Nick Saban would turn our team around like he has in just two years. Which raises the question...what can he do in three years? Four, five or six years?? It's enough to give me that tingly feeling in my stomach to know that the best really is yet to come.

I have to be honest in sharing my personal thoughts with all of you, and tell you that I am dealing with a personal struggle right now. It is something that has come up recently, and unfortunately it won't be going away any time soon. I'm learning some things right now and I'm trying to take the things that I have learned and actually apply them to my life. Easier said than done though. I'm having to make a lot of mental adjustments due to these issues that I have never had to deal with before. This is why it is a struggle for me...I've never been in the situation I'm in now, so I'm trying to learn how to handle it. It's not easy at all, and it's something that I'm dealing with on a daily basis. I wish I could share more, but this is something that I have to keep to myself and I just ask that you please pray for me.

On a lighter note, a good high school friend of mine just had a healthy, beautiful baby boy, so I would like to tell Jana CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can't wait to meet Baby T!! Also, my friend Nikki just finished up her LAST round of chemo!!! This is really exciting news, but now it is a waiting game. I think we all know that waiting on things to happen or not happen can be so hard and stressful. Unfortunately, this stress is exactly what she does NOT need right now in order to keep her body healthy. Please continue to keep her in your prayers, as this is a continuing struggle.

As always, thank you all for reading and thank you for your prayers! I would love to hear any feedback, advice or really anything you have to say so please always feel free to leave a comment!! :) I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

What a Weekend!!!

There's just no other way to start this post than by saying ROLL TIDE!!!!!!! Honestly...what a game!! Okay, so now I'll back up and start with Thanksgiving ~ we had a great Thanksgiving this year, although it went by too fast! We left early Thursday morning to drive to North Alabama to my grandmothers. We ate lunch and visited a while with my family that I don't see often enough, and then we left at about 1:30. We then drove down to Hattiesburg, MS to visit Justin's family and got there just in time for dinner at 6:00. Of course the food we ate all day was fantastic!! I think I could eat turkey and dressing all year round!!

Friday, Justin, his dad and I got up and drove down to Biloxi to spend the day at the Beau Rivage casino!! We got there just in time for brunch at the buffet, which was sooo yummy!! We had a couple of Mimosa's with brunch so then we were ready to check the place out. Justin and his dad had been there several times together but it was my first visit there. At this time it wasn't very crowded so we claimed a seat at the bar and played video poker while watching the LSU vs. Arkansas game. Even though I only played quarter bets, I doubled my money!! We decided to go take a look at the craps tables because all three of us were looking forward to playing. Unfortunately, it had gotten pretty crowded by this time, and the table minimums were $10 or higher! We didn't have much time left and we were really hoping for a $5 table, so we watched for a few minutes then headed out. We drove back into Hattiesburg and met the rest of the family for dinner at a catfish-house that is a local favorite.

And then, we woke up Saturday morning and realized that the biggest game of our regular season was just hours away!!! We were so excited that we packed up as early as possible and headed back to Birmingham. We got home just in time to get settled in (and I took about a 45 minute nap!) and finally it was kick-off!!! The game couldn't have gone any better for us, although we really didn't even play our best. I'm still happy because a win is a win, and this one was a long time coming!! Justin and I have been walking on air the last two days and it still seems to be the main topic of conversation in one way or another!! We have the SEC Championship game this weekend against Florida in Atlanta and Justin and I have our tickets ready to go (thanks again Aunt Judy!). I'm extremely nervous about this game..it will be the biggest game for us this year and will be a challenge. We'll see what happens......ROLL TIDE!!

I hope everyone has a great week and I will try to post some pictures from Thanksgiving soon!