Alabaster Christmas Parade 2010

Josh was amazed at how many different baton twirling groups there were. Welcome to the south.

Not sure who these girls were supposed to be?

Mini 18-wheeler.The Thompson High Marching Band.

While Josh and I were spending this lovely Saturday morning out yard selling (one of our favorite things to do on weekends spent at home) we ran upon crowds of people lining up on the side of one of Alabaster's busiest roads (Hwy 31). To see what all of the hype was about we pulled the car over and joined the masses. Turned out today was the big Alabaster Christmas Parade and I'll bet you every single one of the residents of the town were there. Josh and I enjoyed people watching and seeing the excitement of all of the kids around us grow as the parade marched closer and closer to us. They all had their plastic grocery bags with them to store all of the much anticipated candy that the paraders (I think I made that word up) threw out to them as they came by. I think I may have embarrassed Josh a time or two when i had to fight off a few of the children to get to the good stuff (you know; Snickers bars, Butterfingers, Starburst, etc.). By the end of the parade, if someone dared to throw out a simple Peppermint or Tootsie roll to the crowd they were extremely frowned upon by the kids (and myself of course:)), I think I may have even seen a boy or two throwing the bad candy back at the paraders, not sure but I think I saw it happen.

Nevertheless, the parade was a hit! Josh is already talking about getting the old green machine down here for next year so that we can be in the parade, and maybe throw out a few Tootsie Rolls ourselves! OH the memories.

Oh How I Love Christmas Time

Our DIY Christmas reeth that we made using the scraps from our tree and some left over ornimants that we didn't use on the tree. It turned out to be pretty cute.



Christmas time is here again and I couldn't be more thankful! I love this time of year and I love decorating for it too. After spending a long weekend with our two families, Josh and I broke out all of the Christmas decor this morning and went hard at it. Josh was excited about putting up lights around the outside of the house (since this is our first house together) and I love fixing up the inside with the tree, stockings, etc.

Althoug it's still a month away, MERRY CHRISTMAS anyway!

Josh and Duke Play

This big field in our subdivision is one of Dukes favorite places to run and play. I remembered to bring the camera along with us today to catch Josh and Duke in some action. This is a typical day at our house with these two.

Thanksgiving 2010

This is a giant canyon that Josh and I took my Bentley, Adam and Patton to before the rest of the group got to our house. Patton decided it would be fun to run down to the bottom of the canyon and almost killed himself in the process. This is a picture of him at the bottom.

If you look really hard you can see Patton at the bottom. This is with the camara zoomed out.

Duke was kind enough to share is house with Ella for the weekend.

Here are some pictures of my family's Thanksgiving this past Sunday. I didn't do a very good job getting pictures of everyone so about half the group is missing, but i posted what I had.

Smalley Made-Smalley Owned

Isn't she a beauty?! My father-in-law (Josh's dad, Larry) actually made this table for us using the lumber from a Poplar tree cut right off of their very own farm. These pictures really don't do the table much justice, although you can still see the beauty of the wood grain and the quality of how well this table was made. I also love the benches that he made to go along with it!

When Josh and I were in Pottery Barn a few weeks ago we saw a table almost identical to this one for about $1,500. When I saw this table after Larry had made it I was in shock at how well it turned out (no offence at all to your craftsmanship Larry ;-)). I'm thinking he might could make this into a side job? If anyone is in need of a beautifully crafted, solid wood dining table I have the hook up!

Annual Pumpkin Carving 2010

Duke had to join in on some action too.

I'm the witch and Josh is the scull.

Last Sunday Josh and I picked out some pumpkins, broke out our pumpkin carving equipment and continued on our new tradition of carving pumpkins for Halloween (although it is a little childish for two grown adults who are childless). We started this little tradition on our first Halloween of our dating years in Auburn, I believe in 2007 or maybe 2006? Believe it or not Josh actually gets WAY more into this than I do, so in return I make him take and pose for corny pictures that I get to post on here. I think that's a fair trade, eh?

Anyway, here they are and I think they turned out to be not too shabby.

Our Boys Growin Up!

I took Duke down to Old Town Helena today so that he could go for a swim and do dog stuff. I wanted to take some pictures while we were down there because I realized that we don't have any recent pictures of him. He's grown up quite fast in the 6 months that we've had him, but isn't he just the cutest?!

Vacation Please?

It's FINALY that time of year again. Fall is in the air, the leaves are turning their vibrant colors, football has kicked off another season, aaannnd Josh is back to working 60's for the rest of the year. Poor guy. Josh loves this cooler weather more than anybody I know, and as soon as it starts to feeling good outside his boss puts him to work like no other. We have been getting onto ourselves for having never made it down to Auburn for a football game since we graduated, but now that the season is in full swing again we remember that it is because Josh is always working. He's doing good to be able to get home in time to watch the games on TV. I believe this hard working man deserves a vacation when he can get a break. We're wanting to go somewhere within driving distance, but somewhere maybe in the mountains in a cabin with beautiful landscape. Anyone have any ideas on such a place? I'm trying to do some research so that we can book a place fairly soon. I would love to hear any comments you may have!

WHATADEAL!!!

I know how crazy it must seem that I'm actually taking my time to sit here and blog about a silly desk, but I'm just so excited about this deal that Josh and I got the other day that I had to write about it!

The other night Josh and I had decided to go browse around this furniture outlet store that is just down the road from our house. We were actually there to look at couches (we're getting ourselves a new couch for Christmas) but we ran upon this desk and I fell in love with it. (We have not had a desk since we've been married and have always been keeping our eyes open for one just in case we ran into a deal, but haven't had any luck thus far). This piece of furniture is SOLID wood and heavy as lead to try to move. Everything about it feels very well made, and the price tag on it just seemed unreal to me for it's quality build.

Of course knowing me I didn't want to pass up such a great deal, but Josh talked me into going home and thinking about it over night. Once we got home I imediately looked this desk up online to see what it goes for at other places. Much to our suprise I found the exact desk online for $1,800!! When I showed the site to Josh he said "we're going back in tomorrow to purchase that desk!".

The next day with money in hand I was on a mission, hoping and praying that it had not been sold yet. It was still there in all of it's glory with the same price tag on it. So I grabbed a salesman and told him that I wanted to buy it. He went to go verify that it was in stock and when he came back he said "I hate to tell you this but that price on there is not correct. That is suppose to be just the price for the hutch, not the desk and hutch together". My heart dropped, but when I went to look at the price tag it clearly said "price for desk AND hutch". I showed the salesman what it said, and after reading it he said "you're right, that's what it says. We'll have to honor it and sell it to you for that price". So you better believe I made it up to the register to pay for it before he could change his mind! I ended up buying this desk at 70% off of what it should have cost. I think even my sister, Bentley would be proud of me for this one!!

Trust

"God is my strong fortress. He makes my way perfect."
2 Samuel 22:33

-Such a small verse, with such a powerfull meaning.

It is so easy to read this verse and know that every word of it is true. But isn't it hard to truly BELIEVE it? I find myself constantly saying "just trust God. If this is His will for you than it is right.", but then trying my hardest to make God's will fit MY plans. I want to be God in my life. I want to make my own decisions, and twist and turn certain things around to fit just the way I want them. Of course this never works out for me, and in the end I just end up exhausted and frustrated and mad.

If you know me well, you know that I am very strong willed, stubborn, and a bit of a perfectionist (if you didn't know this about me it's only because I've become an expert at pretending not to care). I like things done a certain way and if you can't do it that way well then I would rather just do it myself. This certain quality about me is something that I know my husband struggles with (bless his heart), and I certainly do not blame him for it. It's a lack of trust that I have in God and in other people. It is something that I constantly need to work on although regrettfully I fall short in doing.

Ever so often in mine and Josh's marriage when we are going over finances, trying to figure out where all of our hard earned money has gone, and why we haven't been able to save as much as we thought we should have over the previose month, it becomes very easy to get frustrated at the sittuation and in turn at one another. Although our income has only increased over the year and a half we've been married, our expences seem to grow at twice the rate as well (why does this always seem to be the case?). Only after (however long the period may be) of fretting over the sittuation, we always come to the same conclusion, "God will take care of us. He always has and He always will". I may be crazy (and will not be offended in any way if you think so), but it seems that when Josh and I finaly buckle down and put our full and total trust in God, we are always blessed. Now, do I mean "blessed" with money and wealth? Not completely (although He always provides), but blessed with a peace of mind, a love that can only be shown through the Father, and in turn a deep love and trust in our relationship with each other. These are blessings that cannot be surpassed with money or wealth. This is true happiness.

As I was reading 2 Samuel 22:33 this morning it reminded me of God's blessings and Love that come with trusting His will for our lives. Trust is a struggle for me in all aspects of life, but trust is a wonderful thing and it's good for me to be reminded of the gifts that trust can bring. "He makes my way perfect". Not myself, not money, not possessions or other poeple, but GOD makes my way perfect.

Just thought I'd share.

Our Home

View of the front.

Declaring ourselves to the neighborhood.

Garage
A few from the backdoor through the kitchen into the living room.

A view of the kitchen from the eat in area.

Kitchen pantry (one of my favorite rooms in the house).

Laundry Room in the hall off of the kitchen.

Eat in Dinning area off of the kitchen.

A view of the living room from the eat in dinning area.

A view of the living room from the front door.

Spare Bedroom.

Hall Bathroom

Office (it's a work in progress. Sorry about the dark picture quality).

Master Bedroom off the hall of the Kitchen.

Closet in the master bedroom.

Master Bathroom

Dukes new Home.



This is our new home! We moved in on the first of this month (with the help of Josh's parents and cousin Daniel). We have already managed to get everything unpacked and put away, all of the pictures are hung and placed where we like them, the furniture is arranged in its place. I have some sort of obsession with getting everything just right whenever we move in to a new place, and I don't like to put anything off if I can help it. So of course I've had poor Josh working with me to get everything done quickly! But I believe we've just about finished with everything and now are just enjoying living in an actual house! We really love it here.

Anyway, I promised I would post some pictures of the inside as soon as I was able so here they are! Enjoy.