December in Photos

Ok, it's true that when the Holidays roll around, the time between Thanksgiving and NYE is choc full of family get togethers, friend reunions and memorable moments all worthy of capturing with a photo. It's also true that I've yet to upload and print those photos (eeek), which is surprising because I absolutely love taking, picking out and printing all those photos and finding places to put them!

So here we go, December in Photos....

Engagement Photos:
To be honest, these photos were actually taken in October but we got the disc and finally printed them in December, so needless to say we've spent several hours combing through them and picking out our favorites. Below are some of my favorites (really I could've added a dozen or so more). We were very pleased with All Angles Photography, enjoy!

Graduation
On December 15th I finally graduated with my Doctor of Physical Therapy Degree! It's been a rough five and a half years but totally worth it. Currently I'm in the midst of job hunting.

 My immediate family just after the ceremony.

 Stephen and I just after the ceremony.

After the ceremony we went to a local restaurant in the Highlands area near my school. It was fabulous having all my family and future in-laws at the restaurant celebrating the occasion.

Graduation Party

On the Friday after I graduated, Stephen graciously hosted a party with all our family and friends to celebrate my graduation. we had a blast.

My two best gals, at the party!

The graduation festivities continued with my new colleagues (former classmates) at a local entertainment area.

Once again, my two best gals!

 My MOH and I about to enjoy a celebratory toast!

On the Monday before we graduated, the officers of my class put together a class dinner, or opportunity for everyone to get together in a social setting one last time before walking the stage.

A great group shot of all my favorite PT (physical therapy) girls.

On Tuesday, we had graduation practice. Following practice we all made our way to the lobby of the gym for a champagne reception.

  Once again, some of my favorite girls.

Christmas Eve Morning

In light of trying to figure out the logistics of Christmas day with both our family dinners, Stephen and I decided to have our "Christmas Morning" the morning of Christmas Eve.

 Before the opening of presents commenced! Unfortunately we failed to get a pic of the two of us in front of the tree. Seeing as how I am the shutterbug of the relationship, we tend to end up with a lot of pictures of Stephen.

 

Stephen got me several games for my new Wii (a graduation present)

One of Stephen's favorite presents :)

On Sunday after Christmas, Stephen and I hosted a game party with all of my oldest friends. We've been friends literally, since middle school and a get-together at Christmas time when everyone is back in town has become a beloved tradition.

Our pretty sweet spread!

We also got to use the Wine Brique Stephen's mom gave us to keep wine chilled throughout a party.

It was great catching up with everyone and letting our competitive streaks come out during game play!

After the party my MOH and BM and I decided we better do some wedding planning seeing as how both of them would be a minimum of 5 hours away. So the next day we decided to go dress shopping for them. We had a blast.

They tried on probably a dozen or so dresses. We unanimously decided that this style in a navy blue would be perfect for the wedding! It even got me excited about the prospect of wedding gown shopping!

There we go, officially caught up, whew! The end of 2010 has certainly been amazing. I hope everyone's New Years is fabulous!

Home-made Christmas

As this is mine and Stephen's first Christmas together in our new place we had the joy of decorating the place to our liking. (See this previous blog post about Christmas family traditions).

Of course we were lacking in the ornament department. We ended up taking the yearly ornaments each of our mother's had gotten for us. We loved that the yearly Christmas ornament tradition was something that both of our families shared. So in theory, that's already 48 ornaments (24 for him and 24 for me) and we've received a few acknowledging our first Christmas together, so we weren't doing to bad. But me, being the crafty, wanna-be, that I am, had to make a few to stick up on our tree.

I love the inconsistencies and the imperfections in the ornaments. I didn't dwell on trying to make them perfect, I just went with what I liked and enjoyed spending time with my mom as she made a few for her tree as well.

In total, I made about 8 or so and they really added to our tree and I love that they have a story behind them and will hopefully adorn our tree for years to come.

A Hunting we will Go!

On Sunday, Stephen and I joined his parents, their goddaughter and her parents for a joyous afternoon spent at a local orchard and winery picking out Christmas trees and just enjoying the place in general. First off can I say it was C-O-L-D! Oh my goodness, it was freezing, this past weekend was oober cold and I was definitely not prepared.

Stephen's Dad, mom and himself waiting for the tractor to take us to cut our tree!

Anyway, almost as soon as we got up there we ran into this jolly old man:

It's mine and Stephen's first picture with St. Nick ever!

I kept running back and forth from outside to the winery and the market (enjoying some warm cider) trying to keep my nose from freezing off. Stephen's mom is from Iowa and Stephen apparently got the cold gene because he and his mother were right at home in the snowy weather.

 Aboard the tractor to go cut our tree!

Prior to boarding the tractor we had to figure out what kind of tree we wanted, ultimately we decided on the Norwegian Spruce.

 We spent very little time picking out the one we wanted, I think everyone was ready to head back to the winery and restaurant for something to warm us up!

Stephen and his mom and dad finally found a winner that everyone could agree on:

Unfortunately Stephen's brother couldn't join us this year so Stephen was stuck on the ground sawing the tree all by himself (I think he secretly enjoyed it!)

After we, well, Stephen, cut the tree we drug it up to the dirt/mud road to wait for the tractor. We spent the rest of the afternoon sharing bottles of wine and eating gobs of yummy cheese then headed over to the restaurant for some fried chicken, ham, chicken and dumplings, green beans, corn and apple butter sweet rolls yum yum yum!!!!

We spent the rest of the evening decorating the tree (of course I forgot to take pictures of the final product). I love this time of year!

Reunited....and it feels SO good

This post is uber late, but had to share. Last Saturday, April 17, was the infamous Thunder Over Louisville, to kick of all the Derby festivities. I hadn't been to "Thunder" since I was a kid and had no plans of attending this one, that is until one of my most favorite people invited me to go with her and her brother and his wife and some of their friends. So, of course, I jumped at the opportunity because I rarely ever get to see her and probably won't see her again until the fall (darn schedule conflicts and busy lives).

KB and I enjoying the great weather, yummy food and good company!

Luckily for us, KB and her crew got there early in the morning to claim a spot and set up shop! We had a great view of the great lawn and there were TONS of people. It's always fun to people watch and make games out of it.

Just a glimpse of the crowd and the bridge!

So despite some mishaps with finding the chow wagon (definition: a fenced corral with lots of good carnival food and booze), how we missed it, I'll never know, and the crowds, we had a great time and it was so good to catch up.

Love these goofballs!

Hoppy Easter Readers!

Stephen and I started Easter Sunday at his parent's house with tons of friends and good company for a delicious Easter breakfast/brunch. I love catching up with his family friends because I feel so close with them. And it's always fun when they bring up wedding planning stuff!! We enjoyed delicious ham, an egg casserole topped with asparagus (yummy!), a beautiful fruit salad, a Paula Dean inspired french toast casserole (in the words of Stephen's brother, "Diabetes, anyone?") and a yummy strawberry, shortcake and blueberry trifle!! Absolutely delish!

Stephen in his gorgeous sweater and button-up shirt (that he picked out all on his own!)

After spending the morning with Stephen's family, we made our way to my aunt's house for my Easter celebrations with my side of the family for a late lunch. We have lots of little ones running around so we spent a lot of time hiding and hunting the not-so-coveted Easter eggs (apparently hiding 200 eggs for 9 children isn't a great idea, who would've thought kids would get tired of hunting eggs?)We still had a great time. My aunt has a trampolene and we definelty take advantage of that whenever we are over there!

Meet my brother, Garrett, he and I dominated that trampolene...well that is until our younger cousin came out and um, shall we say kicked our butts doing flips and crazy dancer moves we could only dream about...such a great afternoon.

After all the Easter festivities, Stphen and I retreated back to his place and played catch for a while so we could enjoy the beautiful weather.

We topped off the night with a pitcher of margaritas and some yummy mexican food to watch the opening game of baseball season: Stephens favorite, the Yankees against, dun dun dun the Red Sox (boooooooo). It was a great Sunday and I couldn't have asked for anything more!