Merry Christmas!

I meant to post part of this post before Christmas, but I ran out of time with all of the shopping and hustle and bustle.  So, here we go on a very long post that includes all of our 

Christmas events from both before and after!

First, our Christmas card! I was very please with how it turned out!  We had some professional pictures taken that we used that turned out great.  A special thank you to my Mom for literally jumping around during the photo shoot to get Annie to smile in almost every single picture!  :)

We had a sweet first Christmas as a little family of 3!!!  

Annie had to see Santa Clause of course so we took her to see him at the Lighting of the Tree ceremony in our neighborhood!  It was a fun night visiting with neighbors and waiting in line to see Santa!

Unfortunately, we didn't get any great pictures.  

She was really tired at this point.  Thankfully, she was not scared yet of Santa!

You can also see Brad's shadow across Santa's lap which doesn't make for great pictures.

After seeing Santa on Friday night, we were ready to get our tree.  

On Sunday, we went to the local tree lot and picked one out!

These twin 12 year old boy scouts were very helpful!

Love this picture of Brad and Annie!

The tree turned out great especially with all of the presents wrapped and ready to go on Christmas Eve!

Brad and I got Annie this white, adirondack baby swing for our front porch!  

I can't wait to hang it and let Annie try it out!

We followed our usual Christmas traditions again this year which starts with Christmas Eve service at our church.  It is such an amazing service with the church beautifully decorated and a special brass band to go along with the music!

After church, Brad and I joined his family at Stix for dinner.   It was not the best timing for Annie so she and I ended up leaving early from dinner so that she could eat and nap.  After everyone else finished dinner, we all exchanged presents!

We finally got some great pictures with Brad's family!

We loved having Grandma in town this Christmas!

Annie loved her first Christmas Eve!  

She stayed up all night without a nap but was in such a great, happy mood!

Everyone took a turn cuddling with the baby!

Grandma had her laughing out loud!

I love this one of JoJo and Annie!

On Christmas morning, we headed to my parents house to exchange gifts by the fire and

 eat our yummy Christmas morning breakfast!  Afterwards, we went to my Aunt Janet's house to meet up with our extended family for a meal and a game of Dirty Santa.  

I hardly took any pictures all day with my family.  I did capture Jeffrey playing the guitar for us.  He is so good and we are all so glad to have a musician in our family!  Too bad this is just an iPhone pic.  I will have to get a better one with my camera.

Annie loved hearing and watching Jeffrey play!  She was entranced!

I also took these of Grandmax (my grandfather) and Annie!  I love them!

Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas that was extra special with Annie!  Thank you to both of our families for all of our wonderful presents!  We love you all!

Road Tripping: Columbus, GA

Also back in mid-November, after our friends came to visit and before Thanksgiving, Annie and I were able to join Brad on a business trip that he had to Columbus, GA.  When he took this new job back in May, we hoped we would get to travel with him occasionally since several of his cities are within driving distance.  This trip turned out to be the perfect opportunity since it was within driving distance, just one night, and he was traveling by himself.

So, we left on a Tuesday afternoon just in time for Annie's nap.  She did great and slept most of the 2.5 hour trip!  Brad and I were able to enjoy some nice, relaxing conversation, music, and a sermon on the way down!  

We stayed at the Marriott hotel in downtown Columbus, GA! 

 It is in an old mill building right across the street from the train station.  It was so nice!

Even though I don't really remember the city of Columbus, 

I do remember riding a train here when we were little!  

 Columbus has a very charming downtown that is on the Chattahoochee River!  

Even though Columbus is a small city there is a lot to do.  

We arrived just in time for dinner Tuesday night.  We picked the Cannon Brew Pub on Broadway Street which is the main street through downtown with lots of restaurants and shops on it.   

Dinner was okay but it was fun to be out! 

After dinner, we enjoyed time cozied up in the hotel room.  Annie slept great in her pack n play while Brad watched the Duke game.  I caught up on reading blogs!  After the game, Brad and I watched Parenthood - our new favorite show on the iPad!

Wednesday morning, we searched for the local breakfast dive and found Ruth Ann's Restaurant!  

We both had omelets, biscuits and coffee.  Yum!

After breakfast, Annie was ready for a nap in the big bed... 

...and Brad worked on his presentation.  

I sat and read in the quite hotel room with nothing else to do - heaven!

Eventually, Brad left for his meeting and Annie and I set off to explore downtown! 

 She was excited about our adventure!

The campus of Columbus State University is mixed right in with downtown!  

Unfortunately, after only about 10 minutes of walking around, 

it started to POUR rain and the tornado sirens went off!  

 Annie and I hurried back to the hotel and hunkered down in the lobby for the remainder of Brad's meeting.  We were a little sad not to get to explore Columbus and go see the Chattahoochee River, but we actually had a lot of fun together in the lobby!

We visited the hotel coffee shop, 

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took self portrait pictures, 

and talked to the baby in the mirror!  Annie was great and hardly made a peep!

Brad returned from his meeting and we headed back to Broadway Street for lunch at the City Market Cafe.  

Annie was so glad to see her Daddy!!

After lunch, we headed home and Annie did great again on the drive home.  We had such a fun little adventure and hope to do it again one day!  Annie was a perfect travel companion and we loved being with Brad!  Hopefully, we were not too much of a distraction:)

Old Friends

All the way back in mid-November two of our best friends from college came to visit!  Erin came from Nashville to see Annie again and Jessica came with Harper all the way from Texas to meet Annie!

I am so thankful for such sweet friends who are willing to make such a big effort to stay connected!  

And, I realized on this visit that we have now known each other for 10 years!  Wow!  I guess that means we are getting old, but I am so thankful for "new" friends who have now become "old" friends!

We had a very low key visit including lots of talking and laughing!

We also made it to our farm for a short visit where we took these pictures!  

I love them and am so glad we got them!

Harper, who had just turned 1 on October 29th is such a good, sweet baby!  

She wasn't quite walking on her own but was a pro if she was holding on to mom!

At first she liked exploring but she was SO mad that we left her sitting in the grass!

Poor baby girl!  We couldn't help but snap a few pictures before we rescued her :) 

Thank you Jessica, Harper, and Erin for coming to see us!  

We loved having you here and I am so glad that we have gotten to see you so much this year!